The Secrets Beneath
by Litl A
Summary: The past comes back to haunt the Team. But whose past is it?
1. Chapter One

Chapter One

Disclaimer: You know the deal...no one belongs to me, except my original characters. You'll meet one at the end of the chapter. The other you'll meet later on.

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Just in case no one noticed: this was a previously posted fic, but it is being rewritten. So, enjoy.

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It was the twenty-first of September and Mother Nature had decided to bring Hell to the Earth in the form of a heat wave. An "Indian Summer" some might call it, to others it was Hell. Others, like Mia Toretto, who had to spend the past three months slaving over an open grill for five hours in a un-air conditioned building, attached to a garage. Unfortunately, she had no choice but to stand at the counter and bear the heat, because, if she didn't, who would? No one, which was why she had to be there, not only that. No. That would make her life easy. Not only did she work - run - the restaurant-slash-store, she also had to do the books for this place and the garage.

She looked up to see Brian walking in, a magazine in his hands. He was about as tall as she was, muscular, with short blonde curly hair and bright blue eyes. He sat at the counter and started flipping through the magazine. 

"Tuna on white, no crust, right?" Mia asked without looking up from her book. 

"I dunno. How is it?" 

She dropped her pencil onto the counter and glanced over at him. "Everyday, for the past three weeks you've been coming in here and you've been asking me how the tuna is," she said putting down her book and walking over to him. "Now, it was crappie yesterday, it was crappie the day before, and guess what?" She raised her eyebrows. "It hasn't changed." 

"I'll have the tuna," he told her. 

"No crust?" 

"No crust." Brian smiled. She made his sandwich quickly, handing it to him. "Thank you." 

Car motors roared to life around the corner and four sports cars pulled up in front of the diner. He turned to see what had made the noise and Mia took that time to check out his magazine. Import Racer! He was a racer. Figured.

Outside, the four people where just stepping out of their cars.

"Talk to me, Jesse. This ain't workin', brother," Vince said, motioning to the open hood of his car.

"It's your fuel map. It's got a nasty hole." The kid looked over the engine. "That's why you're unloading in third."

"Told ya it was third," Leon said, leaning in. Letty joined them.

"Shut up," Vince growled.

"I lengthen the injector pulse another milli-sec and just tune the NOS times... You'll be running tens." Jesse was about to continue talking, but Vince's arm on his shoulder stopped him. "Huh?"

"What's with this fool? What is he? Sandwich crazy?" He motioned to the red Ford pick-up before pointing to Brian inside Toretto's.

"Nah, V, he ain't here for the food, dog," Leon teased.

"Chill out, bro. He's just slinging parts for Harry, man," Letty spoke up, looking at them over her sunglasses.

"I know what he's slinging," Vince replied, walking towards the building.

"He's tryin' to get in Mia's pants, dog," Leon joked, adding fuel to the fire.

Mia looked up to see the Team walk in. The first person was Letty, her best friend in all the world. She was tall and thin, muscular in all the right places from years of working on cars. Jesse and Leon came in next, walking straight to the sunglasses an isle down from the counter. Jesse was of medium height and skinny, always looking as if he never ate, with short blonde hair covered under a beanie, and brown eyes. Leon was tall and well defined with tattoos on his right shoulder and his left hand. He had dark brown hair and bright green eyes. Vince followed shortly after them, pushing a sugar container out of his way before sitting menacingly close to Brian. He was what girls would consider and "All American Badass." Tall, big build, tattoos, brown hair and bright blues eyes. He was known to, on occasion, ride an "All American" motorcycle when he wasn't driving an imported car. His only problem, however, was his weakness for Mia.

"Hey guys, sup?" the woman in question asked as they walked in.

"How you doin' Mia?" Jesse asked. 

"How you livin' girl?" Letty asked as she walked right past her and to the office door. "Hey, Dom, you want something to drink?" she asked Mia's older brother Dominic, who held up a can of soda without saying anything. 

She turned her attention back to Vince who was still staring at Brian, fighting hard not to laugh when she heard Leon and Jesse making fun of Brian: "Oh, he's bea-u-ti-ful," Jesse said. 

"I like his hair cut," Leon told him. 

After three weeks of the same bullshit, Mia had had enough. "V?" she shouted, but was met with no response. "Vince!" He started slightly and when he finally looked at her, she asked, "Can I get you anything?" 

Vince smiled at her and nodded in approval. "You look good." 

Brian's face fell. He stood up and dropped some cash on the counter. "Thanks a lot, Mia. I'll see you tomorrow," he said as he turned and left. 

"Sure," she answered.

"Tomorrow?" Vince asked, looking down at the counter.

"I love this part," Leon stated, his mouth full of chips.

Mia watched as Vince shook his head and followed Brian out to the street. "Yo! Try Fat Burger from now on. You can get yourself a double cheeseburger with fries for two ninety-five, faggot," Vince shouted, pointing off into the distance.

"I like the tuna here," Brian replied, glancing over his shoulder.

"Bullshit, asshole. No one likes the tuna here."

"Yeah, well, I do," came the snide answer. Just when Brian was about to open the door to his truck, Vince slammed into him from behind. What followed was pretty much Brian getting the shit kicked out of him.

"Jesus Christ! Dom would you get out there please? I'm sick of this shit!" Mia yelled through the gate to the office only to have Dom stand up and look at her. "I'm not kidding Dom, get out there." 

"What'd you put in that sandwich?" he asked, leaning against the fence.

"Oh that's very funny." 

"Dom!" Once Letty said it, it was final that Dominic would listen. 

He looked at his girlfriend and sighed. "Aight," he replied almost reluctantly.

He walked out of the office, through the store and onto the street, passing some random businessman who was trying to enjoy a cup of coffee. He was followed closely by Leon, Jesse and lastly Letty who glanced back at Mia as if apologizing for whatever might happen.

Dominic pulled the kid off of Vince and slammed him into his truck, holding him there while the guy caught his breath. "Hey man, he was in my face!" the blonde told him. 

"I'm in your face," he replied harshly. Vince tried to push past him, but Dominic held him back with one arm. "Relax! Don't push it! You embarrass me!" 

Leon took Vince away, dropping his bag of chips in the process. "Get ove' there. What's wrong with you?" 

Dom held out his hand. "Jesse, gimme the wallet." The kid picked it up and handed it to his boss who opened it and read. "'Brian Earl Spilner' sounds like a serial killer name. Is that what you are?" 

"Nah man." 

He handed the guy his wallet. "Don't come around here again." With that he started walking away. 

"Eh, man, you know this is bullshit." 

The bigger man whirled around to glare at Brian. "You work for Harry, right?" 

"Yeah I just started." 

"You were just fired." 

-----

Harry was on the phone when Brian walked into the Racer's Edge later that afternoon. "Hey, Dominic, I appreciate what you did in a big way. Dominic, I owe you..." He hung up the phone and walked after Brian who was changing his dirt-ridden shirt. "Brian, you're messing with my business. When Dominic drives, he's golden. Kids pour in here, they want everything he had, every performance part. And they pay cash!

Brian moved over to the sink, running some water over his face before glancing at Harry in the mirror. 

"What did Dominic say?"

The other man shook his head. "You don't wanna know."

"What did Dominic say?" he repeated, reaching for a towel.

"He wants you outta here."

"He wants me outta here?" Brian whirled around, towel held in midair.

"Yes!"

"And what did you say to Dom?" he asked, drying his face and moving from the room, towel draped over his shoulder.

"What do you think I said? I told him good help is hard to find," the other man answered, his voice raising frantically.

"Hey, relax," Brian walked through the store, his eyes resting on the NOS, nitrous oxide systems, display. "I need NOS." He turned to Harry: "I need NOS."

"No."

"My car topped out at a hundred forty miles per hour this morning."

"Amateurs don't use nitrous oxide. I've seen the way you drive: you've got a heavy foot. You'll blow yourself to pieces."

"I need one of these. One of the big ones." He pointed to a tank, ignoring the other man's protests. 

"Actually, no. Let's make it two. And Harry, I need it by tonight.

-----

A green Eclipse pulled into a spot amidst the street full of cars, an eagle decal racing its way down the side and green neon glow under the body visible. Suddenly, the engine died and the lights went out before Brian stepped out, looking around himself in awe.

"Hey, hold up, hold up." A Latino man was heard saying. "Look at this Snowman right here." He removed a girl from his lap and walked to Brian. "Sweet ride. What're you runnin' under there?" Brian just smiled in response. "You gonna make me find out the hard way?"

"Hell yeah."

"You brave," he laughed, "You brave. They call me "Hector." I got a last name too, but I can't pronounce it, so-" 

"Brian Spilner."

"Ah, typical white boy name, know what I'm sayin'?" The two men shared a laugh before Hector turned and pointed to a bronze Ford Focus ZX-3: "See that over there? That's mine. It's my baby. But I ain't cutting her loose tonight."

"Why not?"

"It's cause I'm going legit. Tryin' to get on the NIRA circuit. You heard about that?"

"Oh, hell, yeah." The NIRA Circuit or NHRA Circuit was an official, LEGAL, drag race. To even be considered part of the Circuit, one had to have a team, be able to drive, and have sponsorship from a company able to pay your way through.

"Yeah, yeah. So what's up with you, man?"

"I'm just waiting for Toretto."

"Shit. Better get in line," a black man said, interrupting them. He pointed to the Eclipse: "This yours?"

"Yeah. I'm standing next to it," Brian replied.

"That's funny. You know, Edwin happens to know a few things. And one of the things he knows it: it's not how you stand by your car. It's how you race your car." He pointed to Brian, raising an eyebrow. "You better learn that." A few seconds later a radio blared and the crowd went silent. "Oh, shit, here they come. It's on."

Five cars pulled through the wide side street in flying V formation. A red Mazda RX-7 flanked on one side by a blue Nissan Maxima and a white Volkswagen Jetta and on the other by a purple Nissan 240SX and a yellow Nissan Skyline, the holy grail of import cars. The cars stopped and six people stepped out, the leader immediately being swept into the crowd.

"Dom!" some guy called.

"Marvin!" Toretto replied.

"Hey, Dom, how you doin'?" a woman asked, latching onto his arm.

"Hey, Camille. You been doin' Yoga?"

The girl said something only to have most of it drowned out by the noise. "...It saves this butt."

"You did?" Dom asked, incredulous, only to smile. "Of course you did- Monica!"

So there he stood. Toretto, God of the Streets, with two women hanging on his arms. "Rrrooow...I smell-" Letty pretended to sniff the air. "Skanks. Why don't you girls pack it in before I leave tread marks on your face?"

"Okay," Camille said simply, she and Monica moving along.

"Letty, I was just talkin'," Dom told her, sighing.

"Yeah, whatever," she answered, her tone making it sound as if this had happened many times before.

"Okay...Hector!" he called.

Hector left Brian by his car and walked over to Toretto. "Yeah, what's up, man?"

"Yo, what's up?" Edwin asked, following him.

"Edwin," Dom greeted, doing an intricate handshake with Hector before repeating it with the black man.

"How we doin' this tonight?"

Usually there would be more than one race, consisting of only two racers, but they had arrived late so there would not be a lot of time before the police caught on. "One race," Dom announced. "Two G buy-in. Winner takes all." To the side he added: "Hector, you're gonna hold the cash."

"Why Hector?" an Asian racer asked, handing over a folded wad of money.

"Because he's too slow to make away with the money," Edwin joked, slapping his money into Hector's hand. Hector, in return, glared half-heartedly at the other man.

Toretto gave his money and started to turn. "Okay, good luck, guys."

"Hey, wait. Hold up," Brian called, pushing his way through the swarm of bodies. "I don't have any cash. But I do have the pink slip to my car."

Jesse stepped in front of him. "Hey, you just can't climb in the ring with Ali, because you think you box."

Brian pointed over to Vince and said, "He knows I can box," obviously taking Jesse's analogy seriously. "So check it out. It's like this: I lose, winner takes my car, clean-and-clear. But if I win: I take the cash, and I take the respect."

Mia looked at her brother as the crowd laughed and mumbled. "Respect?" Dom asked.

"To some people that's more important." 

After a moment Dom conceded, nodding towards the car in question. "That your car?"

Jesse ran up to the car, immediately jumping into mechanic made. He lifted the hood to the Eclipse, leaning in and toughing the parts as he went along. "I see a cool-air intake. It's got a NOS-fogger system and a T-four turbo, Dominic. I see an A.I.C. controller. It has direct port nitrous injection."

"Yeah," Toretto said, scratching his arm. "And a stand alone fuel management system. Not a bad way to spend ten thousand dollars."

The crowd around them mumbled to each other again. "You see that shit?" Edwin asked a neighbor. "He's got enough NOS in there to blow himself up, period."

"Yeah."

"So, what do you say?" Brian questioned, smiling over at Dom. "Am I worthy?"

"We don't know yet. But you're in." The man raised his arms, motioning for the crowd to move out. "Let's go."

Off to the side, Leon and Vince wrestled a little before everyone raced to their cars. A few seconds later, hundreds of cars poured out of the side street, driving in different directions only to meet up twenty minutes later, blocking off any side street leading to the current 'track.'

On one side street, a Domino delivery car stopped in front of a yellow Skyline and the driver stepped out. "What in hell's goin' on around here."

Leon leaned out his window, waving the older man away. "Street's closed, Pizza boy. Find another way home!"

"Goddamn street racers."

As the guy got back into his car, Leon adjusted his scanner. "Log on twenty-two. Tension is high. They've blocked the streets," a woman said over the radio.

As the four racers moved towards the starting point, two scantily clad women ran in opposite directions across the street, spraying down the starting line. The first three cars pulled right up to the line; the final car, the Eclipse, drove right over it. Brian backed up, nervously looking at Dom.

"Edwin," a girl cooed, leaning down to Edwin's window. She reached out, placing his hand on the inside of her shirt. "This is yours whether you win or lose. But if you win, you get her too." The girl in question bent forward provocatively, waving and blowing him a kiss.

In the next car, the Asian racer was finishing up his game of Midnight Club. Unfortunately, he had lost the race.

In the first car, Dom turned on his stereo before lifting the cushion to the passenger seat and turning a nozzle, releasing the flow of nitrous oxide.

"You're going to wind," Brian told himself. "I'm gonna win." With that he turned and opened up his NOS canisters.

"-In a public place," the woman said over the radio in Leon's car. "We had a reported homicide, one eighty-seven, at Barabian Liquors."

"I got a one eight seven in Glendale. Cops are all over it, man," Leon spoke into a two-way radio. "We're good to roll. I repeat, good to roll."

"All right," Hector responded, raising his hands as the four racers revved their engines.

"Let's race!" Leon shouted into the radio.

"Right." Hector threw his arms down. "Go!"

And they were off, the four cars shooting away from the crowd, zooming to the finish in a blur. "Damn that guy's fast," the Asian racer said, quickly falling to last place.

Two spots ahead of him, Edwin had dreams of winning the race and taking home his two lovely ladies. "Let's go! Menage a-!" He shifted, only to watch as Brian used his first hit of nitrous and shot past him. "No! Monica!"

Ahead of him, Brian's car was experiencing technical difficulties. As he gained on the leader of the pack, Dom pushed a button and burst forward. Beside him, Brian's laptop beeped its warning, but he ignored it, slamming it shut with a loud "Shut up" before hitting the second NOS button.

It quickly became apparent that he should have heeded the warning, because soon rings were flying around the cab of the car and the passenger side floorboard began to fall to the ground below. Immediately, the Eclipse spun out, the last two cars flying by him.

Brian sat for a few seconds, breathing heavily as his heart slowly stopped hammering in his chest. When he was sure that he wasn't about to have a heart attack, he started the car back up and drove to the awaiting crowd.

"Here's what you want, right here," Hector said, holding up a handful of cash. "You were racin' a bunch of skateboarders, know what I mean?"

Dominic the money, smiling towards his team. "My sister holds the money. Count it," he told Mia, before turning to Vince and Letty who were goofing around with each other. He cut in, lifting her up by her waist. "And you're my trophy."

On the other side of the crowd, Edwin was trying to catch up with his girlfriend, grabbing her by the arm. "Hey, hey Monica! What's up, baby?"

She snaked her arm out of his grip, walking away. "What's your problem, nigga? You didn't win." Obviously that was his problem.

"Fuck you then!"

When Brian pulled up, Jesse immediately ran up to the car. "Was that fun?" Jesse asked checking the engine, waving away the smoke that rose from the insides.

"What are you smiling 'bout?" Dom asked, leaning over Jesse's shoulder. 

"Dude, I almost had you," Brian said pointing and chuckling at dom. 

"You almost had me? You never had me! You never had your car!" The crowd 'oh-ed,' as Toretto continue, "Granny shiftin', not double clutchin' like you should. You're lucky that hundred shot of NOS didn't fry the welds on the intake." He turned to a guy who stood next to him, "Almost had me?" The guy shrugged his shoulders and laughed. Jesse closed the hood as Dom spoke: "Now me and the mad scientist gotta rip apart the block and replace the piston rings you fried." Again the crowd 'oh-ed.' "Ask any racer, any real racer, and they'll tell you. It doesn't matter if you win by an inch or a mile. Winning's winning." 

Dom held his arms out will the crowd cheered. Jesse came up under his arms and wiggled his eyebrow at Brian. 

"Available units, we have reported street racing along Hawthorne," the woman on the radio said.

Leon frowned. "Oh shit." They were on to them. He leaned out his window, calling out to everyone. "We got cops, cops, cops! Go!"

The crowd broke out into a run, everyone scattering to their cars. "Dom! Get in the car! Get in your car! Go!"

Brian stood in the middle of the street for a few seconds before finally jumping into his car and driving away.

Dominic Toretto pulled his car into a garage not far from where the races had taken place. He grabbed his tan jacket and got out of the Mazda, making sure to turn on the alarm as he walked away. Making his way down to the street, he pulled on his jacket and held his breath as a police cruiser drove by.

For a moment he thought he was in the clear. That was until the cruise pulled a U-turn. "Toretto! Stop right there!" He broke out running, ignoring the order. "Toretto!"

Toretto turned into a nearby alley, running as fast as he could without looking back. The lights behind him drew closer as a car pulled in front of him, blocking his path. "Get in!" Brian ordered, unlocking his door.

As the blonde drove, Dom held on for dear life, trying to keep his feet from the whole in the floor. "Whoa!" he shouted as Brian dodged two police cars. "Whoa!" They made it to the clear. "You're the last person in the world I expected to show up."

"Yeah, well," he checked the rearview mirror, "I figured if I got on your good graces, you might let me keep my car."

"You are on my good graces, but you ain't keepin' your car. You drive like you've done this before. What are you? A wheel man?"

"No."

"You boost cars?"

"No. Never?"

"Ever done time?"

"Couple of overnighters. No big deal."

"What about the two years in juvy for boostin' cars?" Brian blanched. "Hah. Tucson, right?" the blonde nodded. "Yeah, I had Jesse run a search on you, Brian Earl Spilner. He'll find anything on the web. Anything about anyone. So why bullshit?"

"What about you?" Brian asked, changing the subject. 

"Two years in Lompoc. I'll die before I go back." The silence that settled between the two was broken by the sound of motorcycle engines. "Oh great."

"What?"

"It's gonna be a long ass night, that's what."

Before Brian could question any further, a semi-automatic was pointed in his face. "Follow us," the rider said, somehow managing to control his bike and hang on to the car at the same time.

The Eclipse followed the gang of Japanese bikes into the parking lot of some Asian building. "I thought we had an agreement. You stay away. I stay away. Everybody stays happy," the leader of the gang said, taking off his helmet.

"We got lost, Johnny. What do you want me to tell you?" Dominic said.

"Who's we?"

"Uh, my new mechanic," he pointed to Brian. "Brian, meet Johnny Tran. The guy in the snakeskin pants, that's his cousin, Lance...So when are you gonna gimme a shot at that Honda two-thousand of yours?"

Johnny ignored his question, turning to look at Brian. "This your ride?"

"It was. It's his now," he answered, pointing to Dom.

"No, it's not. I haven't taken delivery," Toretto argued.

"Then it's nobody's car. Somebody put in the wrench time." Johnny joked, his gang laughing along with him. "What do you think, Lance?"

"It's an amazing machine." His cousin answered.

"Yes indeed." He ran a hand over the car, then got on his bike. "Let's go. I'll see you in the desert next month. Be ready to have your ass handed to you."

"Your gonna need something more than that crotch rocket," Dom said, running his hand along the back of his neck.

"I got something for you." He pulled his helmet and road away, the rest of his gang following closely behind him.

"What the hell was that all about?" Brian turned to Dom, walking towards his car.

"Long story. I'll tell you later. Let's get outta-" The bikes came back, this time around the front of the car, signifying that they must have circled around the building. Without warning, Johnny and Lance opened fire, spraying the car with bullets. "Oh shit! NOS!" Dom called seconds before the car blew up and the Trans got away.

Brian sat up from where he had been thrown from the explosion and stood, falling into step beside Toretto. "So what was that all about?" he asked as they exited the parking lot.

"It's a long story."

"We've got a twenty mile hike, humor me," Brian insisted, looking for a taxi.

"A business deal that went sour. Plus, I made the mistake of sleeping with his sister." They caught a taxi a few minutes later to Toretto's house. "Yo, Spilner!" he called as Brian started walking away. "Want a beer?"

"Yeah, sure."

Above them, Mia almost had a heart attack. "Oh shit!"

Inside the house, the party was in full swing, fueling Dominic's anger. He stepped over Letty, heading straight to Leon who had Monica on his lap. "Yo, Dom. Hey, man. We were just about to go lookin' for you, brother," the other man said, only to have his beer knocked out of his hand.

Vince stood in Toretto's living room talking to Camille while playing the guitar when Dom walked over to him. "Where were you?" 

He put down the guitar, pointing towards the door. "There was mass cops out there, they came in from every direction. That shit was orchestrated." 

Dom pointed to the beer on the table, "This your beer?" 

"Yeah it's my beer?" 

Dominic grabbed the bottle and walked away. "Yo, Einstein, take it upstairs! Can't detail a car with the cover on!" he shouted at Jesse. 

"You all right?" Letty asked, stopping in front of him.

"Am I all right?" he repeated, incredulous.

"It was just a question." 

That was when Brian walked through the front door, heading straight to dom. "Yo, Dom, why'd ja bring the Busta here?" Vince called out in anger.

"'Cause the Busta kept me outta hand cuffs!" He whirled around, pointing an accusing finger towards his friends. "He didn't just run back to the fort. The Busta brought me back." Dominic walked over to Brian and held out two beers. "You can have any brew you want. As long as it's a Corona." Brian picked the one in his right hand. "That one's Vince's so enjoy it." 

"You-" Vince started. 

Brian wiped the top of the bottle off on his shirt and took a drink. As Vince started to walk over to them - pushing some random woman out of the way - Brian turned to Dom: "Hey, bro, you got a bathroom?" 

Dom kept his eyes trained on Vince, "Yeah, upstairs, first door on the right." 

Dominic sat on a tiny cushioned bench and leaned against the wall sighing heavily. "He got no call bein' up in here. You don't know that fool for shit," Vince told him. 

"He's right, Dom," Leon agreed. 

"Vince, there was a time when I didn't know you!" Dom said, poking a finger at his best friend. 

"That was the third grade." Came the answer, along with a grown-up version of a noogie.

Dom mumbled a few choice words then said, "Yeah, so what girls are here?" 

"You just name it. You want mine?" Leon started. "You want two?" 

Letty playfully pushed him, "You need to shut the F up." 

"Ah, c'mon, Letty," Leon pouted. 

" You don't have anything?" Dom asked ignoring Letty's comment. 

Leon mouthed a few words then Letty sat on Dom's lap. "You look a bit tired. I think we should go upstairs and you gimme a massage." 

"Look at all our guests." 

"How 'bout we go upstairs and you give me a massage?" 

"All right," he gave in. As they walked away Dom tossed Vince and Leon a sly smile. 

"D! D! D!" Leon cheered. 

Letty and Dominic passed Brian as they walked upstairs. "You know you owe me a ten-second car, right?" Dom asked, his arm over Letty's shoulder.

"Ouch. Oh shit," his girlfriend laughed as she dragged him up the stairs.

When Brian turned around Vince, Leon, and Jesse were waiting behind him. "Did ja wipe the seat?" Vince asked him. 

The three stared at him as he looked around for back up, noticing the gun on the coffee table. "Jesus Christ!" Mia pushed her way passed Vince, "Would ja cut the shit already? Come on!" She grabbed Brian by the arm. "C'mon let's go get me a drink." 

"Ah, c'mon, Mia! We was just about to get along," Leon told her retreating figure. 

"Yeah," Jesse agreed. 

The two of them walked into the dining room. "So, what do you want?" Brian asked as she sat at the hutch.

"Anything, as long as it's cold." He handed her a Snapple. "You know, my brother likes you. He usually doesn't like anybody."

"Yeah, he's a complicated guy."

Mia lifted an eyebrow and took a sip of her drink. "Yeah? What about you?"

"I'm simpler."

"You're a shitty liar."

"Well, I'll take that as a compliment." He smiled.

"But there's a problem." He frowned.

"What's that?"

She leaned in to him. "You need to get some sleep. And you definitely, definitely need a shower." Placing her bottle on the counter, she held her hand out to him. "Come on. I'll take you home."

-----

Brian pulled his pick-up to the curb when he saw the lights to a police car flash him down. He cut the engine, sitting patiently in the truck awaiting instructions. "Show me your hands," someone said into a microphone and Brian followed the instructions to a T. "Very good. Now open the door. Put your hands on your head. Behind your head. Face the front of the vehicle, walk backwards towards the rear. Take two steps to your right, stop right there."

"What'd I do?" he asked as someone began to pat him down.

The officer nudged him slightly. "Shut up. He's clean, Sergeant." With that the man cuffed him and threw him into the back seat of the cruiser, where he sat for the next hour or so, staring out his window.

"Damn, Muse, will you take these things off?" he asked as the officer opened his door when they stopped. "Shit...you put em' on so tight."

Muse unlocked the handcuffs, smiling and laughing all the while. "I like realism."

"You like realism?"

"You never know who's watching, Brian," the sergeant said, looking back at the two men as he walked through an open fence.

"Wow," Brian stated in awe. "Nice crib, Sergeant. It's a lot nicer than that last place you confiscated."

"Ain't it? You know Eddie Fisher built this house for Elizabeth Taylor in the fifties."

The blonde turned to Muse, "See? Even the cops are Hollywood in Hollywood."

"Ok, here he is, fresh from Toretto's hot rod heaven," Sergeant Tanner announced, walking up to his desk.

"That was an $80,000 vehicle, officer," a black man told Brian, turning from his own desk.

"Wait a minute," he turned to his sergeant, "You tell him what happened?"

"He knows what happened," came the answer.

"Send the bill to Johnny Tran."

"Brian."

Bilkins turned to Tanner: "The kid's givin' me an attitude? That doesn't speak very well for Police-F.B.I. relations, Tanner."

"I walk in the door, and the guy's already givin' me...." Brian complained, running a hand through his hair.

"All right, all right. We'll talk, Ok? Let's talk about it...Muse, why don't you make us four iced cappuccinos, please? Come on."

Muse turned around, picking some files off his desk. "Regular or decaf, Serge?"

Tanner took a looked at Brian and Bilkins before answering: "Uh, decaf, I think."

A few minutes later, Bilkins, Brian, Muse, and Tanner were sitting in a conference room, drinking their iced cappuccinos. Bilkins jumped right into research mode, pointing to various pictures as he spoke: "Four hijackings in two months, and we don't have anything. DVD players and digital cameras alone are worth a million-two. Which brings the grand total to six million plus."

Tanner turned to Brian, his eyebrows raised. "We're in the political crosshairs now, Brian. That's why you're undercover."

"You want that detective badge fast, kid. And you want to know something? The FBI can help, if you come through for us," Bilkins offered.

"What does the truck driver say?" Brian looked away from the pictures and to his boss.

"He gave us the same MO Three Honda Civics, precision driving. The same green neon glow from under the chassis. Lab says the skid marks came back the same. Mashamoto ZX tires. So we know that it's somebody in the street-racing world."

Bilkins sighed. "We don't make this case soon, the truckers will take matters into their own hands. I tell 'em we're close. You gonna make me a liar?"

The blonde frowned. Everything was lying on his shoulders now. "Look, what do we know? We all know that this world revolves around Toretto, right?" He stood from the table, using his hands for emphasis. "Now, I'm not saying that he's necessarily the one that's poppin' these trucks, but I can guarantee the both of you that he knows who is. It's just a matter of time until I win."

The head of the FBI would have none of that answer, remarking snidely: "You want time? Buy the magazine. We don't have time. Just get me something I can use."

"Is Harry cooperating?" Tanner asked as he and Brian began walking from the house.

"Yeah," he replied sarcastically. "Like a guy who is gonna do three to five for receiving stolen property if he doesn't."

"What kind of vibe is he getting from Toretto?"

"He's scared to death of him, but he doesn't think he's jackin' trucks in his spare time. He's too controlled for that."

"Wait," Tanner said, stopping and pulling Brian to a halt beside him. "Not that I want to contradict Harry's fine judge of character but, uh, Toretto did hard time for nearly beating a guy to death. He's got nitrous oxide in his blood and a gas tank for a brain. Do not turn your back on him, period."

Brian nodded, taking everything in. "Hey, Tanner. I'm gonna need another car," he added before leaving.

-----

A few weeks later the Team sans Leon and Vince were working in the garage. "What about parts?" Mia asked, chasing her brother around with a clipboard in her hand.

"Hold off on that," he told her, cleaning off a wrench before placing it back in the correct drawer.

"Dom, I don't know what to do with this."

Her brother was about to answer when the back of a flatbed pulled to the front side doors of the garage. A junk car that looked like it had seen the pits of Hell sat on the truck. "All right, what the hell is this? What do you got there?" he asked Brian who had come around.

"This is your car."

"My car? I said a ten-second car, not a ten-minute car."

Jesse walked up to the burnt shell of a car, hitting what was supposed to be the passenger's side door. "You could push this across the finish line, or tow it. "

Leaning against a car, Letty laughed as Dom finished the implied statement: "Couldn't even tow that across the finish line."

Brian smiled, raising his arms and pointing an accusing finger. "No faith."

"Oh, I have faith in you, but this isn't a junkyard. This is a garage."

"Hey, pop the hood," the blonde ordered, pointing the front end of the car.

"Pop the hood?"

"Pop the hood."

Once the car was off the flatbed and the driver paid, Jesse dove right into the car: "Two J.Z. engines. No shit."

"And what did I tell you?" Brian asked.

Dom smiled, nodding at the other man. "I retract my previous statement."

Jesse held a wrench out in front of him, smiling like a kid who had just gotten a new toy. "You know what? This will decimate all after you put about 15 grand in it. Or more, if we have to overnight parts from Japan."

"Well, put it on my tab at Harry's."

"Yes!"

"I gotta get you racing again so I can make some money off your ass. There's this show down in the desert called Race Wars and that's where you'll do it. I'll tell you what, when you're not workin' at Harry's, you're workin' here. If you can't find the right tool in this garage, Mister Arizona," Toretto said, motioning to his garage, "you don't belong near a car."

Brian smiled happily, jumping slightly when he felt a breeze of warm breath on his neck. "He owns you now," Mia said, walking away.

A few minutes later, Brian and Jesse were sitting in a trailer behind DT Automotives, in front of a computer. "Tell me what you think about this. Koni adjustables. Gonna save us about two pounds. And they're gonna give us better traction for the whole shot. All right? This is your basic layout of the car, and that's pretty much what it could look like when it's finished. Red. Green." Jesse explained, pushing a few buttons and pointing to different articles on the computer screen.

Brian turned to look at him, eyebrows knitted together. "Man, you should be going to MIT or something."

"Yeah, right. No, I got that.. Oh, what's it called? That attention disorder..."

"Oh, uh, A.D.D.?"

"Yes, that shit. Yeah. You know, I was good in algebra. And like math and shit. Everything else I failed. Dropped out of school. I don't know. It's just something about engines that calms me down, you know?"

-----

After two weeks of work Leon pulled his yellow Skyline into the driveway before Letty's 240SX. Vince walked up next to him. He saw Brian talking to Dom and handed Leon his bag of ice. 

"I'm outta here," Vince said. 

"Aw, c'mon dog!" When the other man made no move to come back to his friends, Leon turned to the back yard: "Yo, Dom."

"Vince, come ove' here and give us a hand!" Dom shouted, watching V walk away. 

"Looks like you got all the help you need, brudda!" Vince shouted back. He got into his car and drove away. 

Twenty minutes later Leon and Letty were playing basketball, Dom stood at the grill, and Mia, Jesse, and Brian walked out of the house carrying salad and beer. "Mia!" Dom shouted. 

"All right, already!" she shouted back as she walked down the stairs.

"The chicken's dry already," he called over to her.

"I'm coming out."

"Aww." She walked straight over to her brother, wrapping her arms around his waist.

Five minutes later everyone sat at the picnic table. Jesse pulled a piece of chicken onto his plate. As he went to grab it Dom's hand shot out to stop him. "Hey, hold up. Since you we're the first one outta all of us to reach in to grab the chicken," Dom said to Jesse, "you say grace. C'mon." 

Everyone folded their hands and closed their eyes. "Dear heavenly, huh-" Jesse started. 

"Spirit," Leon offered. 

"Spirit, thank you," Leon nodded and shared a look with Dominic. "Thank you for providing us with the direct port nitrous, uh, injection." Leon kept urging him on by nodding his head. "For core incoolers and ball bearing turbos and, um, titanium valve springs. Thank you." 

"Amen!" Leon shouted, raising his hands in the air as everyone clapped. 

"Prayin to the car gods, man!" Letty smiled. 

"If he's not the best-" Dom started.

Leon looked up to see Vince standing a few feet behind Dominic. He smiled, "Look who it is. Old Coyotes 'R' Us. I thought you weren't hungry pumpkin." 

"You know I gotta eat," Vince shrugged helplessly. 

"He's always hungry," Letty added. 

Dominic sighed, "Aight, sit down." As Vince walked by he kissed Dom on his head. Toretto looked at Brian and Leon realized that Vince would be sitting across from him. 

"How ya doin' Mia?" Vince asked as he walked passed. He accepted the beer Leon handed him with a, "Thank you," and sat across from Brian. 

"Hey, Jesse, hand me that chicken, bro?" Leon asked, pointing to a piece of chicken.

Vince and Brian continued their staring contest until Letty slapped Vince's shoulder, "Let's eat some grub, man. Want some of that chicken?" 

Leon turned to V: "So where'd ja go? Rent a movie or something?" 

Later that night the team sat in the living room, watching a movie and eating popcorn while Mia and Brian stood in the kitchen, cleaning up.

"Need a hand with anything else?" he asked, handing her the last plate found on the table.

"No, I'm good. You can go join the boys watchin' the movie."

"Well, you see. The cook does the cleaning where I come from."

Mia laughed lightly, rolling her eyes. "I'd like to go there."

"I think we should go out sometime."

Still up to her elbows in soapy water, she replied: "No. I don't date my brother's friends."

Brian grabbed a plate that she had just cleaned and began drying it off. "Wow, that sucks. I guess I'll have to kick his ass then."

Beside him, Mia chuckled. "I'd love to see that one. No, I would, I would pay to see that one, actually."

In the living room, the Team was watching a movie when they ran out of popcorn. Immediately, Vince stood up, offering his services. He walked into the kitchen, placed a bag of popcorn in the microwave and pushed a button, looking at Brian and Mia. "Wash my car when you get done."

"What was that?" Mia asked indignantly.

"Nah Mia, I'm talkin' to the punk. And wear your favorite dress, cause when your done I'm puttin' you on the street where you belong, cutie." When the microwave didn't start right away, he began pushing random buttons. "Is this thing broken? What's wrong with this thing?"

"V? What was-? What was that Cuban restaurant you wanted to take me to? The one with the picadillo and the-"

"Little red candles and the wooden table?"

"Yeah, the plantain too. Food all over the place what was it called?" Mia turned around, Brian turning with her.

"Cha Cha Cha?" Vince asked hopefully.

"Yeah, that's it."

"Yeah."

She turned to the man next to her, "Well, you can take me there. Friday night at 10:00. Is that good for you?"

Brian never took his eyes off the other man as he answered, "Yeah, it's perfect."

"Good."

Furious, Vince walked out of the kitchen, making his way towards the door. His path, however, was blocked by Jesse who held up a bowl that should have been filled with popcorn. "There's no popcorn?"

Vince knocked the bowl out of the kid's hand, sending kernels all over the living room. "Make your own goddamn popcorn!"

-----

Outside of the Racer's Edge, three cars raced down the street, pulling rapidly into the first few parking spots. "All right, now that's valet parking," Hector said, stepping out of his car. He motioned with his hand and he and his crew walked into the shop. "Harry, what's up dog?"

The older man shook his hand, making a gesture that took in the whole store. "Excellent brother, come on in man. Check it, it's yours."

The Latino walked up to the counter, immediately noticing Brian. "Damn. What do we got here? Hired some new help, huh?"

Brian smiled and shook his head. "Don't even think about it. What's up, Hector?"

"What's up Brian? How you feelin'?

"So, what's up? What do you need?"

"What's up man? I need you to hook me up. Three of everything." Hector handed him a folded up piece of paper, "I made a list. Why don't you look that over?"

"When do you need this stuff by?"

"Tomorrow, today, now. White boys work fast, don't they?" He turned to his friend, holding out his hand: "Beto, pasa la feria, homes. That's right."

Behind the counter, Brian typed in a few of the parts on the list, clicking an icon on the screen and pulled up a list of possible cars that would use the equipment. Top on the list: Honda Civics. "Hey, you said you need three of all this stuff?"

"Yeah, three of everything. What do you think about that? Check this out."

Later that night, Brian did just that. He climbed to the top of a garage, peering around a corner at a group of people that sat in the parking lot of "El Gato Negro." When he was sure that Hector and his people were not paying any attention to the garage, he turned and broke a window, making it easier for him to open the entire thing.

Once inside, he dropped down and moved about, checking out the three covered calls. All Honda Civics. No Mashamoto ZX tires. After finding that these were not the cars he was looking for, Brian climbed back out the way he came. However, when he dropped to the ground, he was hit in the back of the head with something.

The next thing he knew, he was lying in an ally with Vince holding a shotgun to his face. "He moans like a cop," the man said, speaking to the shadows behind him.

"Brian, this is one of those times that you need to be very clear about what you say." Out of nowhere Dominic Toretto appeared. "Nod if you understand me."

"Nod!" Brian did as he was commanded.

"Sit up. Tell me what the hell you're doin' down here." 

Again he did as he was ordered, rubbing his head as he answered his mark: "Oh shit. What I'm doin'? Dom, I don't...I owe you a ten-second car. And what this is about, this is about Race Wars. I just went in there and Hector is gonna be runnin' 3 Honda Civics with spoon engines and on top of that, he just came into Harry's and he ordered three T-66 turbos, with NOS, and MoTeC systems exhaust. "

Toretto stood back, his hands down at his sides. "So, what are you saying? You're gonna go around and check everybody's shit out, one garage after another?"

"Yeah. Because, Dom, you know...I can't lose again."

Unwilling to let the subject be steered off course, Vince growled. "He's a cop. He's a cop!"

Dom looked over at his best friend before staring at the man on the ground. "You a cop?" Brian shook his head. "Let's go for a little ride." With that, Dom held out his hand and helped Brian to his feet.

"Walk!"

A few minutes later, they were in Jesse's car, parked outside of the building at which Brian's car had been blown to bits. "All right, kid, stand watch," Dom said to Jesse, who nodded and drove away.

Once in side the garage, the men went to work checking on the contents. Vince and Dominic looked at the cars, while Brian focused on the electronics stashed on the other side. "Yo, Dominic," Vince said, drawing attention to himself. "There's no engines."

"What are they plannin' on racin' with? Hopes and dreams?"

"I don't know, but I know they're sneaky as shit, and they've got enough money to buy anything."

Just then, a two-way beeped, and Dom held his up to his mouth. "Oh. What, Jess?"

In the Jetta, Jesse sat up after hiding from a pack of bikes that tour down the parking lot. "Dom, we got a wolf pack. It's Johnny Tran and he's comin' your way really fast!"

Back in the garage, the men started to hide. "All right, we got company. Spilner!" Brian got into a good spot just as the lights went on and the doors opened.

"Come on. Move!" Lance Tran ordered a man, jabbing a gun into his back.

"Let me ask you a question, Ted. Do you see anything wrong here?" his cousin, Johnny, asked.

"No," Ted answered, raising his eyebrows.

Not liking that answer, Johnny grabbed the man around the neck and rushed him to a nearby car. "We got no engines, do we?

"No."

"Do we?"

"No!"

"A couple of Nissan SR Twenty motors will pull a premium one week before Race Wars, huh?"

"Probably." Now the man was lying on the ground, Tran's gang standing back while Johnny stalked forward. 

"You're a smart fence, Ted. Maybe too smart. What are you feelin', Lance? Forty-weight? Fifty-weight?"

"Forty-weight sounds nice."

Quickly, Tran pounced on Ted, kneeling on his chest while he held his hand out. Lance placed a tube in his hand, which Johnny shoved into Ted's mouth, while lance began to pump the oil. "Where are they Ted? Where are they!"

Shaking his head futilely, he cried: "They're-"

"Where are they!"

"They're in the warehouse. They're in the warehouse, man!" The hose was removed from his mouth and Ted turned over on to his stomach, spitting out as much oil as possible.

Leaning against a car that sat with no engine, Johnny Tran nonchalantly wiped off his hands with a white rag. "Ted? Kiss my shoes?" When the "fence" came close enough, Tran kicked him in the stomach, then motioned for everyone to leave. "Let's go get our engines.'

-----

"My superiors are flying in from DC day after tomorrow. I want something to show. Now, we have top echelon fence with a lube hose in his mouth, automatic weapons, a jacket full of priors on every one of these Asian punks, a garage full of DVD players and generally psychotic behavior. Now tell me why we shouldn't move on Johnny Tran right now and see where we are when the dust settles?" Bilkins asked dropping a manila folder onto the counter.

Brian, leaning against the opposite counter, ran a hand over his head, trying to get passed the headache that came with the shotgun blow to his head. "Because all we have is behavior. Just let me get some hard evidence, because what we have now is just circumstantial."

"What we have is probable cause and truckers arming themselves for some good old-fashioned vigilante mayhem."

Tanner, the voice of reason, pushed his way through the room. "Tell us about Hector, Brian."

"Oh, Latinos with spear guns. Give me a break," Muse said sarcastically.

"No, Hectors still working on the engines for the cars, but the tires don't match. Will some...will someone just give me a cigarette?" Brian asked, looking around.

Bilkins turned to Muse: "Get him a cigarette."

Tanner stopped him, "Don't get him a cigarette. I thought you quit?"

With a sigh, Brian nodded. "Yeah, I did quit. Just give me a cigarette."

The black man raised his voice. "Get him a cigarette."

"No! Tell me about Toretto," Tanner ordered.

"Well, I told you, I think he's too controlled for this. I mean what? Going suicidal on semi-trucks? No way. I mean, maybe his buddy, Vince, but he's too stupid to pull it off."

Towards the back of the room, Muse spoke up: "I think the kid sister's blurring your vision."

"What did you say?"

"I don't blame you. I'd get off on her surveillance photo's too, buddy." Before he could even finish the statement, Brian flew across the room, attacking him with a wild punch.

Immediately Tanner was there pulling the two apart. "Knock it off! What? Are you going native on me, Brian? Have you read Toretto's file lately?"

"Yeah, I memorized that file."

"Yeah, well read it again. No, better still, take a look at these." Another folder was thrown onto the counter, which Tanner opened, tossing pictures around. "Remember I told you about the guy he nearly beat to death? Toretto did this with a three-quarter inch torque wrench. He's a model of self-control."

"I need a few more days." With a shake of his head Brian turned to Bilkins before walking out. "I need a few more days."

-----

"Got a T.R.-seven here with a ball bearing upgrade. What it's gonna do is, it's gonna spool up really quick," Jesse said, leaning over the engine that sat suspended in the air.

"I got this set up for twenty-four P.S.I," Letty informed him.

Dom walked up to see Brian working on the wiring of the Supra. "So, you got big plans tonight?"

"Yeah, We're going out to dinner," Brian replied, looking up.

"You break her heart, I'll break your neck."

"That's not gonna happen," was his answer.

"I wanna show you something," Dom said, 

They spent the next ten minutes in silence as Toretto drove them back to the house. Brian followed him quietly out of the car and into the back yard, before the other man opened a garage door. "Wow," was all he was able to say when he saw the seventy-nine Dodge Charger. 

"Me and my Dad built her. Nine hundred horses of Detroit muscle. It's a beast. Know what she ran in Palmdale?" Dom asked as he ran his hands over the exterior.

"No. What did she run?"

"Nine seconds flat. My Dad was driving. So much torque, the chassis twisted coming off the line. Barely kept her on the track."

"So, what's your best time?"

A few moments of silence, then: "I've never driven her."

"Why not?"

"It scares the shit out of me. That's my Dad. He was comin' up in the pro stock car circuit. Last race of the season. Ah, a guy named Kenny Linder came up from inside, in the final turn. He clipped his bumper and put him into the wall at 120. Um, I watched my Dad burn to death. I remembered hearing him scream. But the people that were there said that he had died before the tanks blew. They said it was me who was screaming. 

"I saw Linder about a week later. I had a wrench and I hit him. And I didn't intend to keep hitting him, but by the time I was done, I couldn't lift my arm." Dom flexed his arms, as if remembering the pain. Then he looked up at the other man in the garage. "He's a janitor at a high school. Has to take the bus to work everyday. And they banned me from the tracks for life. I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters. Not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."

Later that night, Brian sat with Mia at a little table in Cha Cha Cha. "So, um how is it, anyways, that the...the gang came to be?" he asked, taking a sip of his soda.

"The what?"

"The gang."

Mia laughed at the use of the word. Gang? "The gang? No, they don't call themselves a gang."

"Well, what do they call themselves then?"

"They're a team. They call themselves a team."

"All right, so how is it that the team came to be?"

"Well, that's...that's...that's a whole lot of history."

He leaned his elbows on the table, smiling over at her. "I've got time."

With a nodded, she spoke: "Ok. Vince grew up with my brother. Actually, he didn't ever actually grow up. As you can tell. Uh, but they were friends as kids. And Letty, she just, lived down the street. Always into cars, though. Ever since she was, like, ten years old. So, naturally, you know, my brother always had her attention and then she turned sixteen."

Brian moved back in his chair. "And then she had Dom's attention."

"Yeah. Yeah, it's funny how that works, isn't it? Yeah." She smiled at him.

"How is it that Jesse fits into the whole thing?"

"Jesse? Well, Jesse and Leon just sort of showed up one night and never, ever left. Well, it's just the way my brother is, though, you know? Dom's like, he's...he's like gravity. You know, everything just gets pulled to him. Even you."

He shook his head. "Hm-mn. No. No. The only thing that pulled me in was you. Being friends with your brother is just a bonus."

Mia smiled widely, nodding in approval. "That - that's good. That's good. It's nice to come first every once in a while. Want to go for a drive?"

"Yeah."

She drove, much to his chagrin, around town at top speed. Taking sharp turns, drifting through many of them, and nearly causing him to have a hear attack. But eventually they ended back at his place, the apartment right above Harry's, where they slept together, taking their relationship a little bit further.

They were a sleep when Brian's cell phone began to ring. He unwrapped his arms from Mia's waist, and picked it up. "The hijackers have hit again. Bilkins made his decision. We're gonna move on Johnny Tran and his guys at seventeen hundred hours. Unless you say otherwise. If you agree, say yes," Tanner said on the other end, waiting for Brian to respond.

"Yeah," the man answered groggily, closing his phone.

Beside him, Mia moaned before asking, "Who is that?" 

"It's just a wrong number." He turned to face her, smiling softly. "Hi."

With a shy smile, she wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "Hey."

-----

The FBI and LAPD teams had infiltrated not only the Tran household, but the Tran family's place of business, taking in every member of the Family that was under thirty. Unfortunately, they seemed to have taken the wrong men in.

"Yes, sir," Bilkins said, talking in to the phone, while he paced the makeshift office. "Yeah, I know, but. Uh, yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes, sir. Yeah, I got it." He dropped the phone and turned to Brian and Tanner. "The DVD players were purchased legally. All we've got on Tran and company are a couple of low-rent weapons charges and some outstanding speeding tickets."

Tanner sighed, rubbing the nape of his neck. "So, they're out?"

"Yeah, father bailed 'em out. Is this the kind of intelligence I can expect from you, O'Connor?"

Brian frowned, looking up from the spot that he had been staring at. "You're gonna put this on me?"

"I can put it on whoever I want to, kid. Perks of the job."

"No, there's no way you're gonna put this on me."

"No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Let me tell you, I don't care if you have to put a gun to someone's head and blow your cover to smithereens. You've got thirty-six hours to crack this bastard, or you might want to be thinking about another career."

Angry, Brian stormed out of the office, pushing past his two superior officers on the way. He had made it halfway across the small little bridge before Tanner caught him. "It's Toretto, Brian. It always has been Toretto. Tran and Hector are...they're just fumes." The young man stopped as he continued: "Well, I know you've been lying to me. My question is this: have you been lying to yourself because you can't see past Mia?"

"He won't go back to prison." Brian said without looking at the older man.

"Well, that's a choice he's going to have to make. There's all kinds of family, Brian, and that's a choice you're gonna have to make."

-----

It was done, the Supra was finally done. Jesse closed the hood and motioned for Brian and Dom to step inside. "You ready for this, jumpy?" Letty asked as Brian started the engine. It purred like a kitten. Beautiful. Leon tapped the rear and Brian took off, burning rubber as he speed down the street.

He and Toretto were driving along the coast when they pulled up next to a Ferrari. The driver, an old man, sat flirting with his passenger, a woman who could double as a prostitute. "Nice car. What's the retail on one of those?" 'Spilner' asked.

The old man with the "soul" patch looked over at them through mirrored glasses. "More than you can afford, pal. Fer-rar-i."

Dom shook his head, turning to Brian as he grabbed onto the support bar by his head. "Smoke him." And Brian did...he even went so far as to drive on the other side of the highway for a few moments, mocking oncoming traffic. But now they sat at a little rest stop dinner, a bunch of bikers sitting outside, admiring the car. "So what's wrong, Brian?" Toretto asked, slipping a piece of shrimp into his mouth.

"Nothin', man. I'm fine."

"Come on. Obviously, something's off."

Brian dipped a piece of shrimp into some cocktail sauce before popping it into his mouth. "Look, I have my good day's and I have my bad day's. Just like everybody else."

"Brian, don't lose that cool of yours. That's your meal ticket."

"My meal ticket? What? I...I can't pay for my own shrimp?"

"I got the shrimp."

"No, see, that's one thing about me, Dom, you don't understand. I don't need handouts. I don't take handouts. I earn my way, every step. Just gotta make a little something extra on the side." He looked down before adding softly: "Like you."

"What do you mean, like me? What's that supposed to mean?"

"That's what I mean."

"What does that mean, 'like me'?"

"Don't try...I'm not stupid, all right?" He pointed to the Supra that sat in the parking lot. "I know that there's no way in hell you paid for all that shit you got under the hood-" Dom motioned with his hand, making Brian drop his voice, "I know that there's no way in hell you paid for all that shit you got under the hood of those cars by doing tune-ups and selling groceries. Whatever it is you're in on, I want in on it too." After a few moments of silence, Dom took a card out of his breast pocket and slid it across the table to Brian. "Well, what is this?"

"Read it."

"What is this for?"

Toretto slipped another piece of shrimp into his mouth before answering. "It's directions. To Race Wars. We'll see how you do. Then we'll talk."

-----

Brian pulled to a stop next to a security guard and rolled down his window. "How you doin', bro?"

"What's up, man," the guard answered handing him a bracelet pass, while another guard used window soap to put a number on his back window. "Welcome to Race Wars."

"Great. Thanks a lot."

Letty was almost next in line to start her race. But try as she might, she could not ignore the annoying man that drove the car next to her. "Baby. Hey baby. You should be watching from the side. Wouldn't want to get any exhaust on that pretty face."

She turned to him, pulling her glasses down her nose. "How 'bout you put your money where your mouth is?"

"Well, hows about I race you for that sweet little ass."

Moving the car up as another race started, she turned back to the punk. "You want ass, why don't you hit Hollywood Boulevard? You want an adrenaline rush, it'll be two large. Right here, right now. What's it gonna be?"

The man with the dreadlocks pulled a roll of money out of his pocket. "You got it." Their heat was next. Letty pushed her glasses back up, focusing solely on the man that was standing in for the Christmas tree; it was still too early to put the lights up. As the man threw his arms down, they both shot across the line. "Uh, uh, uh, another one bites the dust," the punk sang, moving in tune to nonexistent music. "Come on. What do you got? What you got?"

Smiling, Letty pressed her NOS button, sucking in some breath as she picked up speed. "See ya!"

On the other side of the strip, Brian was just about to knock on the Toretto's trailer door, when it flew open. "Whoa! Yo, Bri', what's up?" Jesse asked, walking away.

His curiosity peeked, Brian turned and followed him. "Hey, what's up, Jesse? What do you have in your hand?"

"Throwin' down the pink slip, just like you." Did he not remember that Brian had lost?

"The pink slip to what? The Jetta?"

"Yeah."

"You can't bet your Dad's car."

"It's all right. I ain't losing. This fool is running a Honda two thousand. I'll win. That way, me and my Dad can roll together when he gets out of prison. It's all good."

The two of them walked along to line of cars waiting to race. "Well, they're gonna throw him right back in prison after he kills you."

Ahead of them, the Jetta was next in line. "Oh, shit. I'm up."

Leon, holding his place, stepped out of the car and grabbed Jesse's shoulders, trying to make him listen. "You visualize the win. Hey, visualize the win, Jesse. I'm serious. You got to listen to me, man."

"Who are you racing?" Brian asked, turning to the car next to them. Johnny Tran rolled down the tinted black window. "Jesse, don't do it. I bet you he's got more than a hundred grand under the hood of that car."

The kid just nodded and held up the pink slip to his car. "Uh huh."

The man threw his arms down and they were off, leaving Brian and Leon at the starting line. When he felt like he had had a good enough lead, Jesse hit his NOS, rocketing faster down the track.

"Too soon, junior," Tran said, waiting a second before hitting his own NOS. The sleek black S2000 blasted past Jesse in a blur.

"No!"

The Asian man crossed the finish line. "Whoo!" Only to watch Jesse continue past him and turn further down then he should have.

"Shit! Oh god!" the kid cried, driving as fast as he could.

Leon, having seen the whole thing, turned and high-tailed it up to the tent in which Dom and Vince were sitting. "Yo!" he said, slapping Vince's knee. "Heads up, bro. We got problems."

"What?" Dom asked, ending his conversation with some random girl.

"Jesse." He pointed to where Jesse was just leaving the airstrip.

"Where's Jesse going?"

"He just raced Tran for slips."

"Oh shit." Yeah. Oh shit was right. 

And no sooner had the words left his mouth, Johnny Tran pulled up and stepped out of his car. "Where's he going?"

Dom thought quickly, pointing towards the exit. "He went to the car wash."

"Whatever. Go fetch my car."

"Go fetch your car? We're not on your block any more. You better watch who you talk to like that." With that, Dom turned and began talking to Vince, trying to get the people - who had come in hopes of seeing a fight - back off.

Tran had no intentions of leaving. "Toretto!"

Leon pushed away one of Tran's people, who was trying to get to Dominic. "Ok, watch it," he warned.

"Toretto! SWAT came into my house, disrespected my whole family because somebody narced me out! And you know what? It was you!"

Without answering, Dom turned and punched Tran in the face, the other man falling to the ground. From the looks of it, it was only intended to be a one-punch deal, but after one punch, Dom could not help himself. He grabbed Johnny by the collar, repeatedly hitting him in the face.

Vince ran over after making sure that the group was not going to cut in. "Dom, chill! Get off him!"

"Hey, yo!" Toretto yelled as security guards hauled him off of Tran.

To the side, Letty watched as Lance Tran came running to the fight. Just as the man was about to pass her, she threw her fist out, knocking him to the ground.

Because he was away from Tran, Dom struggled against his captors, trying to get back, but Vince held him at bay. "Dom, chill out man. Come on!"

"I never narced on nobody! I never narced on nobody!"

"Dom, let's go!"

As the team walked away, Johnny Tran wiped blood from his face, smiling viciously at the retreating figures. "This is all on you," he said to no one. 

Later that night, after hearing about the fight and not being able to find the team, Brian went in search for everyone. He checked the trailer, walking inside and to the back. "Mia? Mia."

Then he heard her voice. "And now I am asking you not to go."

She and Dom were out by the cars, Letty, Leon, and Vince standing off to the side. "Mia, I am doing this for both of us," Dom said, holding out his hands.

"No, don't give me that crap. You're doing this for you. Why are you insisting on doing this? Dom, please. Just don't," she begged. But Dom did not listen, just moved towards the cars and then drove away.

Brian stepped out of the trailer and jogged over to where Mia still stood. When she saw him, she shook her head and began walking away. "Mia, what's going on?"

"What?"

He grabbed her arm. "You know what I'm talking about."

"No, I don't, Brian."

"Oh, so what? You always have tears in your eyes when Dom drives away?"

She pushed past him. "What is the matter with you?"

"Come on. What's your brother racing off in the middle of the night for? I'm talking about the trucks, you know about the trucks?

"No, Brian! What trucks? Jesus Christ." He grabbed her arm again and forced her to look at him. "What!"

"Listen to me. Mia, I'm a cop."

She sighed. "What are you talking about, Brian? What is this?"

"Ever since the first time I met you, I've been undercover. I'm a cop." With each statement, her eyes grew wider. 

"Oh, you bastard. You bastard." Mia spat through clenched teeth. A cop? She pushed him again, walking away.

"Mia!" Once more he grabbed her arm.

"Get off of me, Brian!"

"Mia! Listen to me! Everything I ever said I felt about you was real. I swear to God. You have to believe me, Mia. But right now this isn't about you and me. Your brother's out there. He's about to pull a job, and we're running out of time. Those trucker's, they're not laying down anymore. Maybe they'll make it through tonight, but every single law enforcement agency in California's coming down on 'em. If you don't want anything to happen to your brother, to Letty, to Leon, to Vince, you have to just get in that car with me right now. You have to help me. Mia, you are the only person that can help me right now. Please, Mia. Please help me."

It was almost dawn when they made it out onto the road. "Civics are stashed somewhere outside of Thermal," Mia told him, looking over a map.

"And they wouldn't double back." Brian took the map from her and glanced at it while watching the road. "And highway 10's just way too well patrolled. So what does that leave us with then?"

She leaned over and pointed: "That leaves us with all this."

With a nod, Brian took out his cell phone and it zero. "Nextel," the operator answered.

"Yeah, this is officer Brian O'Connor. Serial number three four seven six two. I need a cell phone trace."

"Okay. What's the cell number?"

"Mia, what's the cell phone number?" Beside him, Mia's jaw dropped, her bottom lip quivering. "Come on, Mia. She needs Dom's cell phone number now."

Determination in her eyes, she grabbed the cell phone and placed it to her ear. "Three two three, five five five, six four three nine." Then she handed the phone back over to him.

"Thank you. Yeah, you get that?"

Outside of Thermal, Dom and the team pulled up behind three covered cars. "All right," he said, as he began uncovering the Civics, "we're one man short. Letty, I need you on the left side."

Leon stepped out of his car, grabbing the spear guns. He walked over to the front car and placed them inside. "Your sister's right about this one. This don't feel good."

"Don't do that."

"Something's wrong." Letty said, slipping out of her jacket.

"Stop."

"We shouldn't be doing this without Jesse."

"Look, this is the mother lode. We've been on this for three months. After this it's a long vacation for everyone. Let's go."

Opening the door to the back car, Leon added: "I hope so."

"Listen," Dominic said, running his hands down Letty's arms, "the other night I had a dream that you and I were on the beach in Mexico."

"Really?"

"Really. Come on." He kissed her softly. "Let's make this happen. Leon, keep on those scanners."

"Copy that," the other man responded.

"All right, Let's go." With that everyone got into their cars, Vince sitting in with Dominic, and drove off.

Back in the Supra, Brian's cell phone rang. "Yeah?"

"Okay, we traced the number to the northbound eighty-six. Mile marker one fourteen outside Cochlea. We'll keep the trace open Officer," the operator said. 

Again he took the map from Mia, glancing between the road and the map. "Let me see this. All right, I think we're about forty miles away."

"What are you gonna do?" she asked, but when he didn't answer, she tried again: "What are you gonna do?"

-----

At sunrise, the truck came into view and Dominic's adrenaline was pumping. "Okay! Go time!"

"We're all good, man. I got nothing on the scanners," Leon said, giving the go ahead.

Vince stood through the open sunroof, firing the first spear gun. The first shut took out the windshield, and the second one - which Dom had handed to him - stuck into the passenger seat of the truck. As It was when Vince climbed out of the car that Toretto noticed that the driver was packing. 

"Vince! Vince, don't! Get back in! Vince!" He pulled out his two-way. "He's got a damn shotgun! Leon! "

"Back off! Back off! Get him off there!"

Without hearing any of the conversation, Vince jumped from the back of Dom's car, onto the engine of the truck. He began pulling himself up, only to see the barrel of a shotgun pointed at his head.

"Oh shit!" Dom yelled as the man fired.

Luckily, he missed, and Vince quickly discarded his helmet, motioning for his friend to pull up next to him. "Get me off this thing! Pull up! Pull up, I'll jump!" It was then, when Dominic was close enough, that the driver slammed on his brakes, sending V to the side of the truck.

"Un...unhook...unhook yourself. Do it! Do it!"

His arm was caught in the wire that was supposed to hold him to the truck. Unfortunately, it was doing its job. "I can't get-"

"You can do it! Come on, Vince!"

On the truck's left, the driver's side, Letty didn't know what was happening, but she knew she could help. "Dom! I'm pulling up to distract him!" She stepped on the gas, pulling up in front of the eighteen wheeler. "Come on boy! Shot doesn't get better than this." However, she never really expected him to shoot at her. "Son of a bitch!"

On the other side of the truck, Vince was reaching out to the Civic next to him. "Take me off here or I'm gonna unhook the wire!"

"Try it again. One, two, three!" Dom called, pulling closer to the truck. When Vince failed to jump he panicked. "Unhook yourself!"

"I can't get my arm free! My arm!"

Dom held his hand out, trying to grab hold of his friend's outstretched arm. "Vince, grab my hand!"

"My arm!"

"Listen, give me your hand. I'm gonna pull you off the rig! Vince!"

"Dominic! Hold on!" They got a hold of each other for a few seconds before the trucker swerved towards the Civic, making Dom lose his grip.

"Give me your hand! Listen to me!"

"Dominic! Dominic! Dominic!"

He got closer again, only this time, the trucker used his shotgun to blow out the front tire, sending Toretto swerving across his lane. "Shit!"

"Dominic!"

"Hang on!"

From her position on the other side, Letty surveyed the height of the truck. "Dom! Move out of the way. I'm coming to get him." Before waiting for a reply, she pulled to the left and quickly jerked the wheel to her right, sliding right under the truck and in front of Dom's Civic.

As she pulled closer, to line her own car up with Vince, the trucker sent the front wheel of the truck into her car, clipping the bumper. Letty herself lose control as the car swerved first, then ran off the road, hitting a ditch. Then she flipped. Not once, not twice. But three maybe four times, leaving her car bottom up.

"Letty!" Dom screamed as they passed by. "Leon," he called into his two-way.

"Yo!"

"Pull back for Letty. Get her out of there!"

"I'm on it! Go! I've got her! You get Vince off that truck." The other man pulled up his emergency brake and twisted his car around, heading towards the spot where Letty went off the road. Once there, Leon jumped out of his car and ran to his fallen friend. She was just crawling out of her car when he ran down the hill. "Letty! Come on, baby. Letty! You okay? Oh, shit. Come on, girl, you all right? Come on, let me look at you. Come on. We got to go. Let's go." He was so scared, he wasn't even sure he knew what he was saying. All he knew was that one friend had just flipped and the other was stuck on a truck.

"Vince!" Dom tried again to get to his friend.

"Dominic!"

"Vince!" It was starting to appear as though it was a lost cause. There was no way he was going to get his best friend of that rig. But then, out of nowhere an orange Supra came racing up the road and sped past Dom, keeping pace with the truck.

"Here, take the wheel." Brian said to Mia as he pulled next to the rig and popped the roof off his T-top.

She looked as him as though he were crazy. "What do you mean?"

"Take the wheel! Put your foot on the gas! I'm gonna get him. Put your foot on the gas!"

"Okay! Okay!" As she did so, he climbed from his seat to perch on the driver's side door.

"Come on. Keep it steady."

She switched from her seat over to the one that he had just vacated. "I got it!"

"All right, hold on, Vince!" he shouted over to the man that hated him, hoping that for just once he would trust him.

"Okay!" Mia shouted, letting Brian know that she was in control of the car.

"Hey, he's having a hard time holding on! Get me a little closer!"

"All right!"

"Closer!"

"I'm moving in!"

"Hold it right there!"

"Go!"

Without waiting for further instructions, Brian jumped from the Supra onto the passenger ledge of the truck, hooking his arm through the support bar. "Vince! You got to hang in here with me right now! We're gonna get you off this thing! Give me your arm! Vince, look at me! Don't let go! Come on, Vince! Throw this arm around me! Vince, don't let go!" Quickly, or a quickly as humanly possible, he unwound the wire from around Vince's arm, then motioned for Mia to come closer. "Come on! Come on, Mia! Get closer! Mia, get closer! Come on! Come on Vince. Here we go!"

Then he pushed the man into the back seat. Something told him, he wasn't sure what, but something told him to check the driver. And for a brief moment, he found himself facing the barrel of a shotgun. One of the scariest moments of his life. But, then he jumped, landing next to Vince in the back as Mia pulled off the road.

Dominic stopped a few meters down the road, getting out of his car and running up the Supra. It was then that he noticed it was empty and that Mia, Brian, and Vince were out on the desert floor. "V! Oh shit." Leon's car pulled up next to him and he immediately ran to the open passenger side window where Letty sat in the back, holding her stomach. "It's gonna be okay, Letty," he said, grabbing her chin, forcing her to look at him. "I love you." When she looked away he turned to Leon. "Watch her."

"Yeah, I got her."

Toretto ran down to where Mia and Brian were trying to keep Vince alive. "Come on, Vince!" Brian shouted, panic on his face. "Hang in there! Come on! If we don't get him to an ambulance in ten minutes he's dead." Dom nodded, understanding completely. "Hold this. Hold the pressure."

Mia sat to the side, holding Vince's arm in her lap. "I got it."

"Just like that. Don't let go. Hold his arm up."

She turned her worried eyes on their fallen friend. "Vince."

"Yeah. Yeah, this is Officer Brian O'Connor. I'm off duty M.A.P.D. I need a life flight roll out right away. My twenty is, uh, Highway 86, mile marker 147. I got one trauma victim, about 24 years of age. Six foot, maybe 200 pounds." He hazard a glance at Toretto who was seething quietly, his jaws working in opposition. "He's got a real deep laceration to his right arm, with arterial bleeding. And he's got a shotgun wound. Close range to his left flank. Yeah. Yeah. And he's going into shock!"

As the helicopter landed five minutes later, Dominic stood next to Leon and waited for Mia to walk away from Brian. The two of them, Mia and Brian helped the paramedics get V onto the copter, but Mia just stood there afterwards, looking back and forth between her brother and her boyfriend. Eventually, her brother's protesting won out and she ran to him, getting in the back seat with Letty.

As the helicopter lifted off the ground, Brian ran to his own car, heading back to Toretto's hoping to catch them though they already had a good ten minute head start.

-----

He pulled up to the house a half-hour later, only to find that Dom had pulled out the Charger and was now loading a shotgun. "Dom, put the gun down now!" Brian shouted, getting out of his car and pulling out his own regulation pistol.

Toretto cocked the shotgun. "Move your car."

"No. Bullshit! Put it down now! No more running!"

"I'm not running!"

"Where's Leon and Letty?"

"They're long gone!"

The cop stepped out from the protection of his door and walked around to Dom, gun still aimed. "Then it's over. I didn't call the police. But don't push me! Put the gun down! I swear to God!"

"You are the cop! You're a cop! Brian! I got to find Jesse before they do. I'm all the kid's got."

"I'll call in the plates. PD will pick him up way before Johnny even gets near him."

He just didn't get it, did he? "Move your car," Dom practically growled.

Mia stepped out of the house and onto the porch "Dom, stop it! It's over! Please!"

"Mia, stay out of it! Move the..."

That's when Jesse decided to show up. He pulled to the curb with a screech and stepped out of the Jetta. "Dominic, I am so sorry. I don't know what I'm doing, Dom. I'm so scared right now. I don't know what's going on."

Toretto turned to Brian, making a show of putting down the shotgun, then turned to the kid. "Jess, what were you thinking, man?"

"I don't know! I panicked! I'm sorry. I'm scared! I don't know what I'm doing! Will you please help me?" The roar of engines made his last few words almost impossible to hear. Everyone turned their heads to see two men on motorcycles come down the street, firing off guns as they passed the house.

Unfortunately, while everyone else dove for cover, Jesse still had no idea what was happening, and therefore he was on the receiving end of the spray of bullets. "Dom! Jesse!" Mia screamed as she ran from the porch onto the sidewalk, where she saw Jesse lying on the ground. "Jesse! No, Jesse!" Her brother came over to them, held Jesse to him for a brief moment then looked over at Brian. The cop immediately got into his car and drove after Tran. Dom stood to do the same. "No, Dom, no!" But he did not listen, only he went in the opposite direction.

As Brian chased after the two Trans, they in turn tried to shoot at him. A little ways down the road, one of them took a hill down, intending on coming up behind the car. The maneuver did work, however, a black car came from a side street and clipped the back tire, sending the last bike right back down the hill.

That left Brian alone with the first biker. As the man turned slightly to shoot at him, the cop slammed on his brakes and jerked the wheel, bringing himself into a better position. Then he opened fire on Tran hitting him square in the chest.

"Call 911. You. Call 911!" Brian called after inspecting Johnny Tran and finding a pulse. He looked over to see the Charger sitting at the top of the hill.

-----

"I used to drag here back in high school. That railroad crossing up there is exactly a quarter mile away from here. On green, I'm going for it," Toretto said once Brian had finally caught up with him. They were sitting at a red light, a quarter mile down from a set of railroad tracks.

The light turned green and the two of them took off. Dominic won, no problem, but Brian had officially spent his NOS tanks. Luckily, both of them made it across the tracks in time to miss an oncoming train. The only problem, however, was the green semi that came out of nowhere and flipped the Charger, very similar to the flip Letty took not that long ago.

"Dom!" Brian yelled as he jumped out of the Supra and ran to his friend's battered car.

"That's not what I had in mind," the other man said as the two of them maneuvered him from the car. Then they stood there, side by side, as the sound of sirens grew closer. But the thought of sending his friend to prison was too much. Brian held out the keys to his car. "You know what you're doing?" Dom asked.

"I owe you a ten second car."

Without waiting for further explanation, Toretto hopped into the car and drove away.

------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm introducing my new character here.

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Lonnie Jackson sat on the bench at Los Angeles International Airport, waiting for James Sanford to pick her up. She had received word a few days earlier that that was the name of the man who would be driving her home. She knew him; had spent the passed three years training with him, but the Superiors over in LA had no knowledge of that for some strange reason.

"Jax!" She looked up to see the man that had become her brother walking towards her. "Jax" was everyone's nickname for her. Well, at least everyone that she had met since she left LA. But now she was back. "Sorry it took so long. It's raining out."

"Rain?" She hated rain. Instead of letting it get to her, she pulled her duffel bag from the floor and onto her shoulder, then stood with a nod. "Where are you parked?" They made their way to his Firebird.

Then the two of them sat in silence for two hours until James dropped her off at her old house, where her oldest brother and her father -when he wasn't in prison- lived. Outside was parked a purple Mustang and a Grand Prix. That meant he was there.

"You want me to come in with you?" he asked as she unbuckled herself. 

"No. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay."

Nervous and unsure of what to do, Lonnie made her way up the front walk through the rain, stopping at the door. At least it wasn't storming outside. It had been three years since she had been home. Was she supposed to walk right in? Or knock? Considering it had been so long, she chose to do that latter, waiting silently as someone worked the lock on the other side.

"What do you wa-" The low voice stopped as Lonnie looked into the eyes of her brother. She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as he stared at her. They never really got along, the two of them. He didn't like how she was so much like their father; too afraid that she was going to ruin her life. 

"Come in, Lon, why you knockin', girl?" he asked, grabbing her bag and moving to allow her entrance. 

"I don't know, G." Lonnie smiled at Giovanni and walked in. The house hadn't changed at all from what she could tell. Still one story, all the rooms appeared as though they were in the same place. Good. 

Giovanni was her thirty-year-old brother. Her scary thirty-year-old brother. 

"Is it all right if I a few nights, G? They got me a room up at UCLA, but it won't be ready till next month," she explained, sitting down on the couch.

"Yeah, it's fine. It's your house too, you know."

"That 'Stang out there belong to who I think it does?" No one knew she was coming home that night, so it would be cool to surprise everyone.

"No." The smile fell from her face, but then her brother held out a key and tossed it to her. "There's a note in the glove box for you."

Nodding, Lonnie took the key and walked back outside, unlocking the door to the Mustang and sitting inside. It smelled like him. Tears came to her eyes as she thought about him. Tears that she wiped away quickly with the back of her arm.

Without thinking about it, she opened the glove box and pulled out and envelop with the words "My Love" written on them. Sometimes he could be so cute. She took a deep breath, then opened it, reading the words on the page.

__

Lonnie:

Hey. No one will tell us when you're getting out...They won't even tell us where you are. I'm so sorry I didn't come to visit you. I hope you know how much I wanted to.

In case you didn't notice, I left you my car, aight? I got a new one a year after you left. Figured since you liked mine so much, you could use it when you got back.

I know you wanted me to forget you. Believe me, I couldn't. I love you so much Lonnie. I wasn't kidding when I told you you were my world. Please come find me.

I love you so much.

Leon

PS: I took care of Jesse, promise.

The rest of the letter was just an address.

-----

Lonnie double-checked the address on the paper, glancing at the number on the house and matching it up to the paper in her hand. Yup they matched. She frowned. Why didn't Leon let her know that he was this-close to living in a crack house? Almost the entire front of the house was shot up.

She stepped out of his - her - Mustang, adjusting her sunglasses over her nose, and looked around. Praying that the chances of a drive-by happening any time soon were slim to none, Lonnie walked around the front of the car and climbed the steps up to the front door.

The place looked deserted. As if any second now tumbleweed would come right across her path. But none did only a stray dog.

Then she was at the door, staring at it in apprehension. What was she supposed to say? "Hey, Leon, remember me?" didn't actually sound all that great. And three years was a really long time, he probably moved on...just like she thought he would.

It wasn't going to work. It would only end with her feeling completely stupid for even doing this in the first place. Why did she even get in the car and come this far into Los Angeles?

Shaking her head, Lonnie turned and started back down the steps, only to freeze when she heard a door creak open.

"Can I help you?" the person in the house asked. She turned around to see a pretty Italian girl standing behind the screen. "Can I help you?" the woman repeated.

"I think I might have the wrong house," Lonnie lied, fearing that this would be the woman that Leon moved on with. She was so pretty.

"Who are you looking for?"

Man, she wasn't going to let her leave. "Just an old friend. He left me his forwarding address, thought I'd swing by and see how he was." Lonnie held up the slip of paper as evidence. "But," she pretended to look at it, "silly me, wrong address."

The woman opened the screen door and stepped out onto the porch. "Here, let me see. Maybe I can tell you where it is."

"Nah, that's okay. I'm bound to find it somewhere."

Before she could say anything else, the woman gently to the paper from her hand and read it over. "What's your friend's name?" she asked without looking up.

Lonnie knew that she knew who it was. The address was written on the bottom of the letter, anyone who could read knew who it was from. But she played along: "Leon."

"Leon who?"

"DePascale."

"Well, you came to the right house," the Italian woman said.

"I know I did."

"But Leon won't be back for a few hours. He and the guys are over at the garage."

Lonnie took the paper back and nodded. "Thank you."

"I'm Mia, by the way," she said, sticking out her hand.

"Lonnie," she answered, shaking it.

"You want me to tell him you stopped by?"

"No, thank you." Lonnie's brow furrowed and she shook her head. "Please don't mention this at all."

"Okay."

"Sorry to have bothered you." Without waiting for a response, she jumped down the last to steps and sped over to her car. "Take care," she called, getting in and gunning the engine.

She never looked back. Never saw Mia shake her head. Never heard the other cars come up the street. Never saw Leon glance down at her retreating Mustang. Never saw the hope that quickly turned to pain.

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There you go folks. The new first chapter of "The Secrets Beneath." Any questions or comments, drop 'em in a review.


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

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Enjoy. Any suggestions or questions let me know.

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Leon was sitting in the lounge of Los Angeles General Hospital, waiting for his turn to visit V and Jesse. Letty and Dom were in there now, and before them had been Brian and Mia. Now he was waiting -- alone.

It was about four weeks after the "incident" as everyone liked to call it. And Dom had given the team the day off in order to prepare for Jesse and Vince's arrival back home the next day.

Jesse had had a hard time healing, spending the first week and a half in a coma. But he was fine now; the only thing holding him back was the hospital. Vince nearly lost his arm. If he had been on the truck any longer, he probably would have. However, he was lucky Brian was there. After getting off the truck, he went into shock and woke up in the hospital, disoriented.

Over the past four weeks, someone managed to show up and visit the two who had somehow managed to get a room together. But today was different. Today everyone had visited, getting ready for their return.

Someone sat down next to him; he didn't bother looking up, it wasn't anyone he recognized. Instead, he pulled a rolled-up magazine out of his back pocket and began to pretend to read it, only skimming over the pages, because he couldn't concentrate on anything besides V's condition right now, he had gone through fits of memory loss since he first arrived.

"What cha reading?" The person next to him asked, trying to get a glimpse of the cover, he could tell by the shadow over the pages. It was obvious from the sound of her voice that she was a female. Her age, however, was slightly harder to distinguish. Her voice was soft and quiet, almost timid.

Leon allowed himself to look at her, starting at her silver tipped combat boots, traveling up her tight Khaki pants, to her silver long-sleeved button-down shirt. He tried not to be the typical guy, tried not to glance at her chest. Of course his eyes failed to comprehend the meaning of chivalry, focusing there for sometime. Until finally, he tore his eyes away to look at her face. He knew that face.

She stared at him impassively, eyebrows raised. And in the next few seconds that he looked at her, she chewed on a piece of gum and blew a bubble. He would say she was somewhere between sixteen and eighteen. Who did he know that was around that age? 

He recognized her face and she looked at him as if he should know who she was, but he had no idea. In the past three and a half years that he had been on the team, he had met so many different girls that it was possible this girl was just another face amongst the crowd. But for some reason, he felt that he should be able to place her face. Who did he know that had red hair and crystal blue eyes? Blues eyes that were wide in anticipation and that brought him back to reality.

"What?" he asked, shaking his head slightly.

"What are you reading?" she asked slowly and clearly, as if he were stupid. He knew he knew her, but why did her name escape his lips? If she knew him, did she have some sick desire to drive him crazy?

"_Import Tuner_," he told her, instinctively glancing at the cover.

"Is it any good?"

"Yeah." They stocked it over at Toretto's Café, as well as a few other racer magazines, and kept a copy of each at the garage.

"That's cool," she said. He looked at her. "So you ever get your dream car? What was it again? A, uh, a Skyline, right?" Her eyebrows rose again and he realized he was gaping at her. She leaned back in her chair, folding her hands in her lap, and pursed her lips several times before she spoke. "I leave the two of you alone for three years and you land my brother in the hospital?"

Suddenly her name came rushing back to him. "Lonnie," he said softly. He had dated her many years ago. Plus she was Jesse's baby sister.

"That's me," she told him. Her voice was no longer quiet, no longer timid, but now strong and clear.

"How long have you been back?" Three years ago she was sent to a medium security prison somewhere in California. No one ever felt the need to let him or Jesse know where. She had changed so much over the past years he barely even recognized her.

"Got back a few nights ago. Wanna tell me what happened?"

"Jesus Christ, Lonnie, look at you." She had changed since that last time he had seen her. Her hair was the same, if not for the purple highlights. Her body had changed: her stomach, though covered, appeared thinner, her chest had developed, and her arms and legs seemed more toned than they once were.

"Why?" she asked bashfully. Her hand reached up to check her blouse and he glimpsed the signs of a tattoo on her wrist.

"You look great." She smiled, showing off her pearly whites, and his mouth went dry. Okay, so "dated" wasn't exactly the best word to use describing their previous relationship. Dated implied that they had only seen each other a few times. No. What they had was love. Almost three years of it before she was sent away.

"Why, thank you. You're lookin' pretty good yourself. But don't try to dodge the question." He raised his eyebrows. Her attitude hadn't changed. "What the hell happened?"

"Your brother raced the wrong guy. And bet the Jetta. When he didn't deliver, they tried to take him out."

"And where were you during all this?"

"Look, Lon, when your brother lost, he ran. No one had any idea where he went." She shrugged her shoulders and nodded in response, accepting his excuse. "So have you been home at all?"

"Yeah. They let me spend a few nights back home. But they're putting me up at UCLA."

"They?"

"The State. Parole and shit." She leaned back in her seat, narrowing her eyes as a nurse walked by. He turned his head, catching the nurse's smile, and offering her one of his own. "Still got it, huh?" Lonnie asked, nudging him playfully in the shoulder.

"I'd like to think so," Leon said, looking at her. "So, did you get my-"

"Yeah." His smile widened when she smiled at him. "I did. Saw it outside an' thought you were there. Imagine my surprise when G tells me that it's mine and there's a note inside for me."

He nodded his head, looking away. "I wanted to give it to you myself, but no one had any idea when you were getting out and that public defender asshole wouldn't tell us shit."

"Yeah. He was pretty much a dick."

They sat in silence over the next few minutes. Silence in which all Leon could do was think about what they had done together. The things they had been through.

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me?" It was one week after her trial and the day before she was being torn from his life and they had to spend it in a small room that probably had people watching them through the two-way mirror.

__

"Come on, Chief," she said, using his nickname. "I'm not gonna see you for the next three years. Don't be like this." She stood from her spot across the table. The officer that had brought her in had been kind enough not to cuff her to the table, granting her free movement.

"Jesse said you've been doin' this shit for years now. Why didn't you tell me?" he asked the seventeen-year-old that was now perched on the table to his left.

"Please, Leon," she pleaded, her voice sounding as if she were near tears, "don't do this."

He looked over at her, her eyes brimming with tears, and immediately felt horrible. Leon pushed his seat back and moved to stand between her legs. "I'm sorry, baby," he said, kissing her lightly on the lips. "It's just…it scares me to think that I'm not gonna see you for three years. What the hell am I supposed to do?"

Lonnie placed her forehead to his, tears finally spilling down her cheeks. "Forget out me."

"I can't do that."

"Yes, you can."

"No, I can't."

He remembered crying when they took her out of the room. _He _cried. A twenty-year-old man crying over a girl.

It wasn't actually that he had forgotten her. It was more like he had given up hope of her ever coming back.

"What?" he asked when Lonnie nudged his shoulder.

"I asked what you're driving now?"

"Skyline."

"So you got it?"

"Yeah."

"Awesome." She smiled over at him, lifting an eyebrow. "How?"

He thought for a second, remembering the first conversation they had ever had: "Sold my body." For a moment she frowned, seemingly confused, but then it came to her and she laughed.

------

"Come on, sweetheart." Dominic led Letty out of V's hospital room, an arm wrapped securely around her waist. She was a little worse for wear: a few scratches on her face, stitches on her right shoulder and a dark bruise stomach.

They followed a nurse into the lounge so they could say goodbye to Leon. But he was sitting down talking to a redhead, and was definitely not going to notice them. Dom and Letty shared a knowing glance.

"Miss Jackson," the nurse said, causing the redhead to turn, obscuring Dom's view of her. "You can go in now. You also, Mister DePascale."

"We'll catch you back at the house, aight?" Dom asked, making his way over to his friend. The girl he was with glanced over at them then looked back at Leon expectantly.

Letty must've picked up on some subliminal "girl" vibe, because the next second she was asking: "Who's your new friend, bro?"

"Guys," Leon said, standing up. The girl did the same, a small smile playing on her lips. "This is Jesse's little sister."

Dominic smiled slightly, raising an eyebrow. "And does Jesse's little sister have a name?"

"Yeah." The redhead thrust her hand out to Letty, completely by-passing Dom. "I'm Lonnie."

Beside him, Letty laughed, shaking the girl's hand. "Letty. This is Dom," his girl said, pointing over to him. Lonnie just nodded her head at him. That is, until Leon nudged her in the shoulder, then she stuck her hand out to him.

"I ain't got cooties, don't worry," he assured her, shaking her hand, in response she squeezed his hand a little too tight for comfort, her smile betraying nothing. "Okay," he said, tearing his hand from hers and flexing his fingers, "did I do something to offend you all ready?"

The girl tilted her head to the left, smiling a smile that would put a cheerleader to shame. "You mean, besides landing my brother in a hospital?" Lonnie then turned to Letty: "It was nice meeting you. Excuse me." Then she was gone.

One look at Leon, whose jaw was dropped and eyes nearly bugged out of his head, told Dom that he was just a surprised by her actions as he was. "Damn, baby," Letty said, laughing slightly, "you've been schooled."

"Letty," he growled in warning.

"Leon, I want you to bring her to the barbecue," she said, completely ignoring him.

"Letty."

"Quiet, Dom." Wow. Wait a second. Since when did she start acting like this _in front_ of members of the team? "She'll be there, right, bro?"

Leon glanced over at Dom, who shrugged. "Yeah, I guess. I better go make sure she doesn't start with V." With that the other man nodded his good-byes and walked in the same direction as Lonnie.

"Letty?" Toretto asked when the two of them were alone.

"Yeah, Dom?"

"Why'd you just do that?"

"Have no idea. Let's go." Letty put her arm around his waist and began pulling him towards the exit.

They walked quietly to his waiting baby. His _other_ baby. Fire engine red RX-7, a "Rocketman" rocket on the side, his father's old number "03" decal-ed right by both doors. Oh man. If he weren't already die-hard in love with Letty…he probably would have proposed to the car.

"You want pizza tonight, babe?" he asked, taking his arm from around her waist to unlock her door and help her inside.

Letty smiled up at him, shaking her head. "I'm not made of glass, Dom. I can sit in a car by myself, you know."

He leaned down, placing chaste kiss on her forehead. "I know. I just like taking care of you."

"Well then."

Dom closed her door as she buckled her seat belt, and raced around to his side of the car. "So, pizza?" he asked again, starting the engine and taking a second to listen to the purr.

They were about five seconds away from the house, when she finally spoke again. "We have the house to ourselves for a while, don't we?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. "Mia and Brian are going out for dinner. So it's just you and me, right?"

"Yeah?" What was she getting at? Not that he didn't already know.

"So why don't we skip dinner. We can make a little snack later or something."

"Leticia Garcia, are you suggesting that we skip dinner and play? Because you know Mama Mia would have a fit," he said sternly. "Besides, I don't know if I could keep up with you tonight."

Beside him, Letty rolled up her window and laughed lightly. "Poor Dommy, are you tired, sweetie?"

"You have no idea."

"All right. So we'll order a pizza and vege out on the couch watching movies, sound good?"

"Yeah."

"Pussy." 

Dom threw his head back and barked out a laugh. "What was that?" he asked, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"You heard me. I called you a pussy, puss-say." He reached out with his right hand, latching on to the area of her leg right above her kneecap. "Dom, don't." Then she started to squeal as he moved his fingers back and forth, tickling her. "Dom!"

"Who's the pussy?"

"You are, bitch!" she yelled back, fruitlessly trying to bat his hand away and hide her laughter.

"What was that?"

"You're the pussy, bitch!"

He let go of her long enough to cut the engine and take the key out of the ignition. But Letty took that time to unbuckle her seat belt and jump out of the car, running as fast as she could to the house. Dom watched her unlock the front door and slam it shut behind herself. Then he stepped out of the car and bound up the porch steps. 

Only to find the front door locked.

He faulted for a second before remembering that one had to unlock a door in order to get in. With a smile and a quick shake of the head, he unlocked the door and rushed into the house, shutting it softly behind him. Then he moved forward in search of his girlfriend. The first room he checked was, of course, their bedroom.

He made it to the center of the room, right to the edge of the bed when he heard the bedroom door click shut behind him. Smiling knowingly, he turned, expecting to see Letty getting ready to pounce on him. Instead, halfway across the room, he met the gaze of a closed door, standing there…mocking him.

Shit. She tricked him something awful. Something only she could manage to do. With a sigh, Dom walked out of the room and downstairs towards the kitchen, where he heard her voice coming from.

"Yes, hi, I'd like to place an order for delivery." She looked up and smiled to him as he walked into the room, holding up her index finger to her lips. Dom returned the smile, sitting down at the small table across from her. "A large pie…Yes…With, um…"

"Chicken parm," he mouthed, giving her his best beggar's smile.

"Chicken parmesan…Yes." She relayed the address, nodding absently as the person, he guessed, repeated everything back to her. "Yup, that's right…Uh, how long? Great. Thank you."

"No, thank you," Dom said as she hung up and placed the phone on the table.

"Don't thank me," she replied, standing from her seat and walking out of the room. "You're paying for it."

He stood also, following her into the living room and dropping to the couch next to her. "Me? Why me?"

"Because I treated last time. And seeing as you wanted the pizza, it's only fair that you pay."

"That ain't right."

"Sure it is."

He was sure, somewhere in the world, that that was not right. But here, in LA, in his house, he would never win. "Okay, baby, you're right."

"And don't you forget it."

As they sat together on the couch, Dom thought back to a conversation he had once had with Brian. _"I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters. Not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free."_ What the hell had he been smoking?

What in the world made him even begin to believe that load of shit? With an arm thrown around Letty's shoulders, Dom began flipping through the television channels. "What d'you wanna watch, babe?"

"I don't know."

------

Lying in a hospital bed for four weeks straight was just about the most horrific experience someone with ADD would ever have to go through. Jesse had come to that conclusion last week when the doctor told him he was allowed to get out tomorrow. He was tired of this place; the bed was too hard, the food was too gross; and the doctors? Forget it. They treated him like crap whenever Vince wasn't around. Which was often for a while because of physical therapy.

It hadn't always been like this, he remembered, lying in bed with his eyes closed. He remembered a time when the team did nothing illegal except race. There was also a time when it was just he and Leon. And Lonnie, but she went away three years ago. He opened his eyed and looked around: the place had a drab yellow on the walls, a window with a nice view of the parking lot, and Vince, asleep in the next bed.

From what he had heard, Vince's accident was quite traumatic. And had it not been for Brian, whom Vince openly loathed, he wouldn't be there right now, but instead, he'd be in pieces on some highway. Same thing for himself -- well sort of. Brian had brought Johnny to justice, and then lost his job.

Immediately after finding out that Brian was a cop, Jesse threw the closest moveable object, which happened to be the remote to his television, at the man. How could he just walk up into their lives and lie to all of them? Make Mia love him? Everyone trust him? Jesse was happy that the remote hit home, catching Brian on the side of his head when someone started talking to him.

But then the other man explained to him about how he let Dominic go, leaving the hijacking case unsolved. Vince was reported to have been in a bar fight with some thugs that left him on the side of the highway after roughing him up a bit. And Johnny and Lance Tran were awaiting trial on charges of the drive-by and the fire set to Brian's old Eclipse.

Then came the second controller, the one to the VCR, accompanied with Jesse' yell that he should've said that sooner and maybe – just maybe – he wouldn't have thrown the first remote. Only the second went a little wide and shattered on impact with the wall across the hall.

Someone knocked, jolting Jesse out of his daydream, and the door opened, Leon peaking his head into the room. "How you doing, dog?" he asked and Jesse smiled at his long-time friend. Leon was always the last one to show up, but he always stayed the longest. Jesse would had loved to think that it was because Leon wanted to visit him for that long, but it was basically because he didn't have anyone to rush home to. Jesse felt himself frown slightly. So maybe he felt a little sorry for him. So what?

Things hadn't been that easy for the two of them for a while now and they tried to stick together as much as possible.

"Hey Leon," he answered finally, shifting up slightly.

"How are you doing today?"

"I'm fine."

"I have a surprise for you," Leon said in a singsong voice, raising his eyebrows.

Jesse felt his curiosity kick into high gear. "What is it?" He moved so he was sitting up straight, his legs kicking away the covers in anticipation.

"Close your eyes." He did as he was told, excitement overtaking him. Then he heard Leon say, "Come in."

There were light footsteps, and then a small feminine voice said, "Hey, Jess," followed by the clearing of someone's throat.

He knew that voice didn't her? His eyes snapped open, only to see a woman, seemingly familiar, standing just behind Leon. Lonnie. Oh God. She comes back after three years to find him in the hospital. That didn't sit well in his stomach.

"Lonnie," he said, his voice hitting a slightly higher pitch, as if he were going through puberty.

She smiled brightly, and he could've sworn he saw her eyes sparkling. "Hey, Jess," she repeated, tucking a piece of hair behind her ears.

"Come 'ere, baby girl, lemme get a look at you." Pearly whites shining, she dutifully walked over and sat next to him on the bed. "Damn, girl." They sat in silence for a while, just staring at each other, both smiling idiotically. Until finally, Jesse ruined the moment. "You gonna gimme a hug or what?"

Lonnie tentatively reached out, leaning her body against his and wrapping her arms around his neck. "I wasn't sure if I was gonna break you or not. I didn't wanna hurt you."

He grabbed her shoulders and gently pushed her back, fully taking in the view of his sister. He smiled happily. She was back. She was here. Tomorrow, when he got out of the hospital, he would introduce her to Dom and the rest of the Team and ask that she be allowed to hang out with them. Maybe even given a spot.

Her bottom lip began to tremble. Oh shit. "Don't cry, Lonnie," he said, pulling her back against his chest. Then he felt her body shudder and something wet hit his shoulder. "No," Jesse said firmly. "No crying. You hear me."

She was clinging to him now. He could feel it in the way she gripped his hospital gown as if it were her only chance at surviving. He hated seeing her like this. Hated the fact that Leon had to see her like this. Hated that Vince would probably wake up at any moment and see her like this.

"Stop it," he pleaded, trying to hold back his own tears. This wasn't fair. He glanced over her shoulder at his best friend. Leon was biting his lower lip and trying desperately to look anywhere but at the two of them. Jesse saw the man clenching and unclenching his fists, as if itching to just hold her. 

Good. They were once very good together.

"Lonnie, sweetie, please don't cry."

"I missed you so fucking much, Jesse." And that was his undoing. However crude it sounded, that statement brought tears to his eyes that spilled down his cheeks. He clung to her then, pulling her tighter against him and closing his eyes.

"I missed you too," he whispered into her hair.

He heard her giggle a little, and laughed him, not really sure why they were laughing though. "I have to ask you something, Jess," she said quietly. Quiet enough so that only he could hear her.

"What's that?" Jesse asked just as quiet, opening his eyes and looking over at Leon, whose brow was furrowed.

"Who's got the Jetta?" she whispered.

Immediately he tensed, drawing her away from his body. She couldn't be serious. She just got out of prison for boosting cars, what the hell was she thinking? "Why?" he asked incredulously.

"I talked to Dad yesterday and I checked around a bit," she said quietly. "You didn't give them the title. It's still in your name, isn't it?" How the hell did she know that? He didn't want Dom to have any more trouble with the Trans so he "forgot" to mention that he never actually gave Johnny the title. No one but him knew that. Well, no one bit him and Tran, who was trying desperately to sell the car before Jesse reported it stolen.

"Yes," he answered, hoping that Leon couldn't hear them. "Why?" His sister didn't respond, instead she just looked out the window and he could see the wheels turning in her head. "No, Lonnie, you can't be serious," he told her sternly. "You just got out. Those guys… Going in there… That's suicide."

"I can handle it."

"There's no fucking way you're doing that shit again, Lonnie," Leon cut in, obviously able to figure out what was being said from Jesse's protests.

Lonnie shook her head, rolling her eyes that were red from crying. "It's not that big of a deal. I've done worse."

"It ain't happening."

"If you two won't tell me who did this, I can easily find out from someone else. Somewhere else."

Jesse shook his head, disbelieving. "Yeah? How?"

She placed her hands in her lap and focused on them. "I have my methods. C'mon, Jess. It'll get done whether or not you guys tell me. It's just faster if you tell me. Saves me the time and trouble."

Leon stepped closer to the bed. "Why do you want to do this? You just got out of Chowchilla. Do you really wanna go back that bad?"

"First off, I won't get caught. Second," she thoughtful for a second, her brow furrowed and lip drawn between her teeth. "And second, I won't get caught."

------

Vince felt his eyes snap open and he looked around. Where was he? Last he remembered he was getting shipped off to the hospital in a helicopter. He looked around the room, noticing the various machines around him, and realized that he was, in fact, in the hospital he had been shipped to.

He glanced around, unsure as to what was really happening. Voices woke him up, he knew that much. First happy voices followed shortly by angry voices. He sighed heavily, reliving scenes from his parents' marriage. There was a third voice, though. One that he didn't recognize. One that belonged to someone of the opposite sex.

Looking towards Jesse's side of the room, he saw a redhead sitting on the kid's bed, with Leon and Jesse giving her – what he assumed – their best "fatherly" faces, as if they were trying to sway her from doing something drastic. Like they had room to speak. They spent nearly four months hijacking eighteen wheelers. Hypocrites.

He cleared his throat, trying to get Leon's attention. It worked. "V, how you doin', dog?" 

"I'm fine, brudda. Who's the broad?" Jesse and Leon normally didn't take girls around with them. Being she was there, that meant that she was with one of them. The question was: who was she with? She was sitting with Jesse, but Leon kept his eyes trained on her. Maybe the two of them had a little competition going on there.

"This is my baby sister, Lonnie," Jesse told him. "Lonnie, that's Vince."

Vince gave her a scrutinizing once-over. "Never saw you around," he said bluntly.

"I wasn't around for you to see," she shot at him, rolling her eyes. He liked her already; she had spunk.

"Speaking of which, when'd you get back?" Jesse asked.

"Few nights ago. Dad called."

"Oh." All eyes went to Jesse. Everyone, except maybe the chick, knew about the Jetta. "Does, dad, um-"

"Know 'bout the Jetta? Yeah."

"Is he mad about it?" the kid asked, playing with his blanket.

The girl shook her head, smiling slightly. "No. But besides wanting to see the two of you, it's one of the reasons I'm here, actually."

"What are you going to do about it?" Vince asked.

"Why don't you let me worry 'bout that?" she snapped, her brow furrowed, and turned to Jesse. 

Leon walked over to Vince, who motioned for him to come closer. "You know her?" The other man nodded. "You _know_ her?" He nodded again.

Vince tried, but he barely caught a word of what was transpiring between the brother and sister. Instead, he just turned to his friend, hoping that maybe he could get some information from him. 

"What's running through your head, V?" Leon asked, pulling up a chair and effectively turning his back on the other two.

"What's up with her, man?"

"She's just Jesse's sister."

He nodded, not entirely believing what was said. If she were "just" Jesse's sister then there would have been no use for the harshness in everyone's voice when they were speaking earlier. "Nah, man, I get that. I mean, where's she been?" 

"Up state." Up state? That was it? No explanation? Nothing.

"That's a big help, bro."

"It'll get _done_, Jesse. Understand that," Lonnie said, he was able to hear that, because her voice was raised slightly. She wanted to get a point across. Go her. "I'll get it done, with or _without_ your help. Like I said, you can just make it easy for me."

What the hell was she talking about? Vince looked over at Leon for a little guidance, but the other man refused to make eye contact.

"Why the fuck are you doing this?" Jesse asked, panic in his voice.

He looked over to see the girl standing, her fists clenched at her sides. "I told dad that I would. I'm _not_ going to back down on that."

"Eleanor Margaret Jackson, you are not going to do this, no matter who the_ fuck_ you made a promise to." Vince was actually surprised at that. Jesse never raised his voice, and now here he was, giving orders to someone. And using her full – or so he assumed – name at that. 

"I'll be in contact with you shortly," she said all business like and shit. Sounding like some stuck-up bitch. Dressed like one too, he decided. "It was nice meeting you, Vince," she stated as she made her way across the room. It was then, when he caught her eye, that he noticed the tears. It was a front. The bitchiness was just an act. Before he could say anything else, she excused herself and slipped through the door.

That was it, no more lies for V. He glared over at his two best friends. Truth time. "So what's her story?"

The two men shifted uncomfortably for a few minutes, before Leon finally broke the ice. "She spent the last three years up at Chowchilla." Chowchilla was a city in California that housed the CCWF - Central California Women's Facility – a pretty high security prison.

No way. The girl didn't look that tough. And three years? That wasn't that big of a sentence, but still. If Dom only got two years for attacking Linder, what had this girl done? 

"For what?" he asked, not really ready to believe their story.

"She used to boost cars," Jesse told him, sighing heavily. "Or she boosts cars, considering she plans on stealing the Jetta back from Tran."

Yeah, right. Like that was gonna happen. "Did you explain to her that that's suicide?"

"I tried, but once she gets it in her head, she's really hard to sway. She gets that from Leon over here."

"Boosting cars, huh?"

"Yeah."

He nodded. It sounded like something that the two of them didn't really want to talk about. Maybe the girl in general was a topic that didn't want to talk about. So he changed the subject: "So what's Dom making for dinner tomorrow?"

That earned him the desired responses: Jesse laughed and Leon shook his head. "What'sa matter, pumpkin? Afraid Dom won't make the ol' coyote's favorite?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

------

Mia sat with Brian at the restaurant table, trying her best to smile at the things he had to say. But truthfully, her mind was elsewhere. She was semi-happy about the way things had turned out after the last hijacking. Sure, Dom had finally accepted Brian again, allowing him back into the house, but they weren't the family they used to be. They weren't as close-knit as they once were.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Brain asked, obviously her silence had finally gotten to him.

Startled for a second from her thoughts, she looked up and smiled sadly. "They're not even worth that much," she told him.

He shrugged his shoulders and tilted his head to the side slightly. "It was the lowest I could go."

Mia nodded and gave up, knowing that it was useless to try and hide anything from him. "I just wish everyone was together again. I mean I can't wait for Jesse and V to get out of the hospital." She saw Brian cringe at the mention of Vince's name and realized a second too late her mistake. There were still some hard feelings between Brian and V, even if Brian did save his life.

It wasn't as if the two of them hadn't tried to get along, because they did. Vince was patient when they came to visit; he asked questions and gave answers. He was making quite the recovery, but they still didn't get along completely.

Her boyfriend nodded, smiling over at her in understanding. "I know what you mean. I understand too, but everything will work out in due time."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

She looked down, forlorn, and she felt his hand softly touch her cheek. "I'm always right." She looked up to see a gentle smile on his lips, and she couldn't help but get mesmerized by his blue eyes. He led her face closer to his just as he leaned across the table, and they shared a tender kiss. Mia closed her eyes, wishing that this moment would last forever. But like always, it ended too soon.

"Hey," he called, waiting for her to open her eyes before he spoke again. "You wanna get outta here?"

"You have no idea how bad."

Brian quickly paid the bill, then ushered her out of the restaurant and into his waiting Supra. After he left Dominic go that day, her brother returned the car all too happy to get back behind the wheel of his Mazda. Now Brian was able to enjoy his ride once more, only using his truck to travel back and forth to Harry's for work.

"Where do you want go, baby?"

The sun was setting, where else would she want to go? "The beach."

"Your wish is my command, milady."

"You're so weird." She laughed then. A soft laugh that she hadn't been able to get past her lips in quite some time. And it felt good.

"But you love me," Brian replied, starting the car.

"Right now, that's about the only thing you have going for you."

"Nice."

It took them thirty minutes to reach the shore. Thirty minutes full of a comfortable silence that she enjoyed. They used to be able to do that. At one point or another, before the last hijacking, it was the only thing they did when they were alone. The beach was the only place they were completely away from the Team and all their hostility.

Or at least Vince's hostility.

The truth was, she enjoyed going to the beach with Brian because it gave her time to be alone with him. At the garage, with the team, at the races. Those were the times when she had to share. Where they had to play up the happy couple. But on the beach, away from everyone else, away from public scrutiny, they could be themselves. Be the happy couple they really were.

Brian cut the engine and stepped out of the car, grabbing a blanket for the trunk before she even stepped foot from the car. "C'mon, beautiful," he said, offering her his hand.

She took it and together they made their way to that one spot in the sand. That one spot that they came to every time. Their spot. The blanket was laid down on the sand, before the two of them sat down contentedly on top of it.

"You know I love you, right?" Brian asked, kissing her shoulder.

Mia nodded, leaning her back against his chest, draping her arm over his that covered her stomach. "I know. And you know I love you, right?"

"Yes."

"Good."

------

The next morning:

Letty looked at the mass of blankets that lay next to her. Dom was there -- somewhere -- huddled beneath all those blankets, leaving her only a thin sheet when the air conditioning was so cold it could freeze a glass of water.

Every time she tried to grab a blanket Dom would hold it tighter. It was like trying to steal candy from a really strong, really obnoxious baby. It just wasn't happening.

Finally she gave up and slipped into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. The upstairs hallway was pretty short considering there were four rooms: Dom's room and the bathroom on the right, and Mia's room and Letty's room -- which Brian was currently using -- on the left. She walked downstairs and into the kitchen. It was seven o'clock in the morning and the house was quiet, which was something that didn't happen very often.

The outside of the house did the inside no justice; it looked smaller outside than it really was. Downstairs were the kitchen, living room, dining room, and Vince's room. Jesse and Leon slept downstairs in the basement, which was converted into two bedrooms and a weight room.

Letty looked out the kitchen window, having somehow made her way to the room on auto-pilot, only to be blinded by the bright sun. "God, please, close the blinds." Leon's voice came from the basement steps, startling her. He was home already? After seeing him with the Jesse's sister yesterday, she didn't expect to see him back home till at least nine tonight. She pulled the curtains back over the window. "Thank you."

"No prob." Letty gave him a quick glance, then asked as casually as she could: "So that was Jesse's sister that you were chatting it up yesterday?"

"Huh?" he asked her, looking up from the inside of the refrigerator. Typical deer caught in headlights, Letty thought.

"The redhead that you were talking to yesterday at the hospital? That's Jess's sister?"

Leon nodded, opening the refrigerator and pulling out the gallon jug of milk. "Hand me a glass please?"

She did as she was asked, reaching into the cupboard next to her and pulling out a glass cup. "She is coming to the barbecue, right?"

"I didn't exactly have the chance to ask her last night. She kind of left before I did."

Letty raised an eyebrow at the lame attempt of an excuse. "You'll have to do one better than that one, dog."

He glanced at her over the rim of his milk, his own eyebrow raised in response. "I'll head over after my shower if it means that much to you."

------

Brian woke up slowly. After he had lost his job he also lost his apartment. But Dom was forgiving enough to let him stay there. And Letty was kind enough to let him have her room for two reasons. One: she never slept in it and two: Dom would not let him stay with Mia.

He heard voices from downstairs, so he pulled a pair of sweats on over his boxers and decided to investigate. He walked downstairs to see Letty and Leon sitting at the dinning room table, Letty drinking coffee and Leon nursing a glass of milk. They were too into their conversation to notice him, so he made himself a cup of coffee -- light cream and two sugars -- and sat down at the table next to the both of them.

"It would be nice to have another chick around here. You guys are starting to outnumber me and Mia by too much," Letty said to Leon.

"All right. So I'll ride up there in a bit."

"Great, just don't let Jesse know that you're picking up his sister, OK?"

Wait, what? "Who's Jesse's sister?" Brian asked. "The Mad Scientist has a sister?"

They both stared blankly at him. Letty was the first to blink. "Some girl at the hospital." She turned back to Leon. "She's cool, right? She won't try and start shit?"

The man shook his head, rubbing a hand over his face. "Nah, man. She's cool."

"Leon's got a girlfriend?" Brian asked teasingly, not really sure as to what to make out of this conversation.

"No, I don't."

"He was doing a lot chatting up with this girl." Letty smiled, nudging Leon with her shoulder.

"Oh, God," Leon groaned.

"I'm telling Dom that you're bringing her over."

"I'm gonna go take a shower, then I'll head out."

Brian turned to Letty as Leon left the room, depositing his glass in the sink in the kitchen. "So Jesse has a sister, huh?"

"Yeah, met her yesterday. She didn't seem to like Dom very much."

"Really?"

The woman next to him just smiled, as if remembering some far off moment. "Yeah, flat out told him that she didn't like that fact that he had something to do with Jesse being in the hospital. Not in those words though."

"Does she know what really happened?"

"Have no idea. I just like the fact that she stood up to Dom rather fall all over him. It's nice not to have to worry about pummeling some chick that I just met."

------

Lonnie slid her key card into the slot and waited for the green light to flash. When it did, she pulled open the door and walked in, immediately being assaulted by a gust of freezing cold air. Man, that felt good. After jogging three and a half miles anything cold would probably feel good.

Breathing heavily, she moved past the lounge and towards the stairs, completely ignoring the elevators. Five flights wasn't that bad. Besides, her legs could use the exercise. But before she was able to make it to the stairwell door, someone stopped her.

"Are you Lonnie?" the girl behind her asked.

"Who's asking?" Face red and entire body sweating, she turned to face the blonde woman behind her.

"Brittany Lowell. I work the front desk." Lonnie raised her eyebrow expectantly, she had things to do. "Right. There's this guy at the door who's asking about you. I called up to your room, but you weren't there, and then he described you." She nodded, motioning for the girl to lead the way. Brittany took her back down the way she came, heading straight to the side room near the entrance.

"Now, I know you just moved in here yesterday, so I'm going to let you know how this works," the girl started. "You need to give me a list of approved visitors. That way, when they show up and they don't have a card to get in, we won't have to go through this again, OK?"

"Yeah sure," she answered, not completely comprehending what Brittany was saying. Instead she was focused on trying to figure out who exactly this guy was that wanted to see her. "Did he happen to mention his name at all?"

The blonde tilted her head to the right, thinking, which seemed pretty hard from where Lonnie stood. "I think…" Don't try too hard. "I think he said his name was Leon."

Leon? What was he doing there? She hadn't exactly left the hospital on the best of terms with either Jesse or Leon, so if this was him coming to convince her not to pull the job, he might as well leave now. Because Lonnie Jackson never backed down from anything.

"Great," she mumbled under her breath.

As the two women turned a corner, she saw him – through the glass windows – leaning against the desk, showing off his tattoo to some random girl. Some girl that was dressed in tight Jeans and a pretty fitted top. As opposed to Lonnie's varsity shorts and tank top, with her hair frizzed and face flushed from the three and a half mile jog. Great.

"Hey, Leon," she said, just as the other girl was about to snake her hand around his arm. "Thanks, Brittany."

"You're welcome." The blonde moved to sit behind the desk. "Oh, just remember to get me that list."

Lonnie forced a smile. "Will do."

"Hey, Lonnie," Leon answered finally, after excusing himself from the now fussing girl.

"What brings you out here?"

He sighed. "I, um-" That sounded promising, didn't it? Nice sigh.

She looked around them; they were standing just to the side of the lobby. The two girls, Brittany and Miss Touchy-Feely, were watching them openly. Aware of the fact that she probably smelled bad, Lonnie looped her arm through his and started for the elevators, skipping the stairs this time.

"Walk with me," she said lightly, leaving no room for an argument. When they were safely in the privacy of the elevator, Lonnie removed her arm from his and stepped away. "Just spit it out, Chief. I ain't getting any younger."

She hadn't meant it to come out so bitchily. But being confined to a small space, with the only man she ever wanted to ravage and couldn't actually do anything about it, did that to a person. Plus, she was waiting for his whole holier than thou speech, where he preached to her about the dangers of boosting cars.

Once they hit her room, he was finally able to form words: "Letty invited you to this barbecue we're having tonight for Jess and V's return."

Her key jerked violently, crashing against the doorknob, rather than into the little hole. "Huh?" she asked, looking up. Letty? "Who's Letty?

"Remember the girl that I introduced you to yesterday?"

Her eyes went wide, and, without looking, she unlocked her door. "Oh, you mean the one with what's his name?"

"Dom."

"Right. Dom. That girl?" She seemed pretty cool; like someone Lonnie would get along with. He nodded in response and she stared at him blankly for a minute. "Ok."

"Ok?"

"Ok. But under one condition."

"What's that?"

"Two actually," she smiled brightly.

Leon sighed as if fearing what the two conditions might be. "Go ahead."

"One: I get to shower first and change. And two: I take my car and follow you. That way I can leave when I feel like it." Like if she decided she didn't like these people. Or if she got called into work.

"Deal."

"OK." Lonnie nodded, then moved to her bed, opening one of two suitcases. It was really sad when a girl only had two suitcases – small cases, mind you – of clothing. She grabbed a towel and a little basket full of her toiletries, then turned to Leon. "I'll be out in like two minutes, five the most. Then we can head out. OK?"

"I'll be here."

"Good."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There you go. Stay tuned for chapter three. I'm working as hard as I can to get these chapters posted so that I can start new ones, but I want to fix the first eight. Two down; six to go. Go me.

~Litl A~


	3. Chapter Three

Chapter Three 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Leon sat patiently on the empty bed, trying hard not to go through her things; trying not to dig into what kind of person she had become over the past three years. What that prison had changed her into. But he fought the urge well, actually surprising himself by sitting on the bed and pulling out that magazine again, flipping through the pages once more, dog-earring the ones that had something worth a second look. 

She came in a few minutes later - exactly three minutes according to his watch - a towel wrapped around her upper body, and another one was in her hand working on drying her hair. She smiled at him before moving over to her own bed, dropping her old clothes and toiletries onto the floor and digging through a suitcase. 

"Do you, uh... You want me to wait outside?" he asked, stumbling over his words while she pulled clothing out of the bag. She was naked under that towel and she was just going to start getting dressed with him in the room? 

"Doesn't really matter. Either way is fine," she answered, turning her back to him. Leon tried not to watch as Lonnie slipped a pair of underwear under the towel, pulling the material up her legs as quickly as she could without revealing anything. Then she pulled on a pair of pants that looked like they would actually fit himself, if not, Jesse. 

It was then that the towel dropped and his mouth went dry at the sight of her bare skin. Okay, so it wasn't exactly bare: a tribal tattoo on her lower back, and a little triquetra - if he remembered the name correctly - on her left shoulder. 

"So many tattoos," he said, trying to keep the shock out of his voice. 

"Not much room to talk, Chief," she answered, looking over her shoulder at him. 

He shut his mouth and nodded absently. He was smart enough to know when not to speak. "True." 

Lonnie nodded also and he watched as she reached around, clasping a bra around her body before slipping her arms through the straps and turning to face him. Yet another tattoo framed her pierced navel with a ring fire. Nice, tight muscled lined her stomach. As close to a six-pack as a woman could probably get. 

Leon's eyes went wide as she held her arms out and smiled expectantly. Did she just ask him something that he missed? "Huh? What?" 

"Do you think this is good enough?" 

The bra and no shirt? "No," he told her, shaking his head and leaving no room for questions. Dom would have her leave the second she walked up to the table. Jesse would probably get pissed off and forget to take his meds. Vince, well, he would probably spend the night trying to get her to bed. 

"I was just kidding, Leon. Relax, bro." With that, she pulled a flannel shirt off the bed and slipped her arms through the sleeves, buttoning it halfway down the front to just above her belly button. "Better?" she asked, holding out her arms once more. When she did that, her movements brought her stomach in tighter, making her pants sag lower on her hips, showing off the hem of her underwear. 

That was probably the best he was going to get out of her. "Yeah. That'll do." He stood up as she put her feet into a pair of flip-flops that were quickly covered by the baggy pants. "I guess." He hoped was more like it. 

Lonnie grabbed a ring of keys, a credit card like thing, and a cell phone, dropping everything into a little black bag before nodding at him. "All right, then. Let's head out." She motioned for him to exit the room, and he did, waiting for her while she locked the door behind herself. 

"So, where were you before I got here earlier?" Earlier? Try ten minutes ago. "The girl at the desk said you weren't in your room." 

She walked ahead of him for a second, pushing the down arrow by the elevator and leaning against the wall. "I was out jogging." 

"Oh." 

"Yeah." 

So now the awkward silence settled in again. Silence similar to the one from yesterday, where he remembered the last time he saw her. But now, he was remembering the first time he saw her. Ever. 

_He walked out of Greg's house, a bottle of water in his hand. The party had been good so far; enough girls and booze to keep even the twenty-and-over people happy. But he was still bored, which was why he headed outside to clear his head. And that was when he saw her. She was walking around Greg's car, stopping at the passenger's side door and peering inside. _

"Excuse me," Leon called, watching as she jumped slightly and twisted to face him. The girl was possibly as tall as he was with her hair pulled into a bun at the back of her head. 

He had seen her around before, at football games or something. Not that he ever wanted to go to those things. He wasn't really one for team spirit, but Greg always convinced him to go. Somehow. And this girl was at every home game for as long as he could remember. She was an underclassman, but hung out with that kid in his Auto Tech class. What was his name? Jesse. 

"You need help or something?" 

"I was just looking at the scrap metal over here," she answered as he headed off the little porch and across the street. 

"Scrap metal?" he heard the edge in his tone, and tried not to wince. Girls never understood cars, usually referring to them as "cars," "hunk of junk," or "toys." But "scrap metal?" That cut deep. 

"The sixty-nine Ford Mustang I'm standing next to. Or am I just imagining it?" 

He shook the shock out of his head. So she knew the year of the car. No big deal. "No, sorry, you just called it "scrap metal."" 

"Boss four-twenty-nine, right?" 

Wait, what? Leon frowned slightly, walking over to the driver's side to glance at the area before the door. Boss 429. "Yup." 

"So, attachment to the car, but you weren't sure of the model. I'm guessing it's a friend's car that you helped fix up, right?" 

She was good. "Yeah." 

"Too bad." Huh? The girl stepped into the light, her red hair and bright blue eyes shining under the streetlight. 

He watched as her eyes took in the street, watching for signs of trouble. "So, you drive?" Leon asked, trying to pinpoint her age. 

Biting her lower lip, she shrugged her shoulders. "Sort of," came her answer as she raked a hand over the top of her head. 

"Sort of." Okay, so he wasn't going to get an answer from her on that one. Why not try another approach? "You have a name?" 

"I should probably get going." The redhead gave a small smile before turning and heading down the street. 

"Nice name," he muttered to himself, fully intent on going back to the porch. However, his feet continued in the other direction, catching up with her. "What's your hurry?" he asked as he stopped in front of her. 

"Don't you have a party to get to?" 

"It can wait. What? You got a curfew or something?" 

"Hardly." 

"There. Now you gonna tell me your name?" 

She sat down on the curb, leaning her arms against her knees. "Lonnie." He sat down next to her. 

"Leon," he told her, extending his hand. They shook hands briefly before letting go. "So, you like the car?" 

"She's a beauty. What do you drive?" 

"Right now, I'm driving a ninety Mustang. But I'm saving up because I got my sights set on the new Sklyine." 

Beside him, Lonnie gave a short laugh, her eyebrow raising. "It's hard enough driving now. You wanna drive from the passenger side?" 

It was time to get the focus off of him, and back to her. "What about you? What do you drive?" 

She smiled and shook her head. "Right now? Nothing. I'm only fourteen." She leaned her head into her hands, a far-off look coming to her face. "But I got my sights set on the new ninety-five Eclipse." 

"It's gonna be pretty expensive." 

Lonnie sat up straight, her brow furrowed. "Well, I figured I could always sell my body for a while." 

"The guys around here are scum," he told her, fearing that she was serious. 

"Yeah, but they'll pay well. The way I figure it..." Leon's jaw dropped. Was she serious? "I'm just kidding, dude. I would never let anyone lay their grubby hands on me... No matter how much they paid me." 

"Leon?" A ding, then silence. "Leon? Yo, Leon!" He jumped as Lonnie pushed him roughly. "Snap outta it, bro." Distracted, he allowed her to grab his arm and pull him onto the elevator. When he finally came back to himself, they were walking out of the building, Lonnie leading him with a hand on his elbow. "Where's your car?" 

He pointed in front of them, his brow furrowed. "Right in the parking lot. Why?" 

"Because, my car is in the complex around back. So we can do this all of two ways: you can gimme a ride to my car, or you can wait while I walk." 

His yellow Skyline flashed in the sun no more that fifty paces away. "Come on. I'll give you a ride." 

"Sounds good to me." 

They sat silently in his car, the silence broken only by her directions. When he pulled up next to the old Mustang, Leon felt like he was about to cry. His very first car, ever, was sitting in front of him in prime condition. Oh man. 

"She looks good," he told Lonnie, knowing he didn't really need to. 

"Left everything the way it was. Just tinted the windows a little more. Can't stand having people being able to see me." 

"Still rides good?" 

"Rides great. Purrs like a kitten." He stepped out of the Skyline and ran his hand along the body of the Mustang. Still purple. Not a color he really liked, but it suited Lonnie. "Why don't you start her up? Or would you rather just listen?" 

He smiled over at her, itching to sit behind the wheel. The next thing he knew, she was tossing him the keys and he was sitting in the car. Hm, he thought, looking at the scented pine that hung from the rear view mirror. New car smell. 

Leon placed his left foot on the clutch pedal, pushing it in as far as it would go, checked to make sure the car was in neutral, then started her up. His eyes closed as he listened to the purr of the engine. He missed that sound. 

"Like a dream, eh?" Lonnie asked, resting her arm against the roof of the car. 

"Heavenly." 

"I'd offer to let you drive her over, but the Skyline won't exactly do it for me." They smiled at each other. "Okay, it's backwards. I'd probably end up fucking shit up." She moved to the side a little as he released the clutch and stood from the seat. "Another time then?" 

"Please." Heading back to his car, Leon stopped her before she sat in hers. "How's your driving these days?" 

"I took'er out in the beginnin' of the week. Worked out all the kinks. Why?" Lonnie raised an eyebrow at him, and for a brief second he had a feeling that she still knew him too well. "You gonna take me for a ride or somethin'?" 

Before he knew what he was saying, "Baby, I'm gonna rock your world," spilled from his lips. Oops. But then again, old habits die hard. He was a flirt. What else was there to say? 

But Lonnie didn't skip a beat. "Bring it," she said, slipping into her car and closing the door, before revving the engine. Yup. Beautiful. The two of them - the Mustang and Lonnie - deserved each other. 

Twenty minutes later, he took an off-ramp to a little side street and pulled up to a red light, Lonnie right behind him. Her radio was blasting, he could hear it all the way in his car. He smiled, thinking back to when she was still in school the two of them used to drive around together. He was the one who took her to get her license; he was the one who took her everywhere. Being he was three years older than her, and her boyfriend, it was his job. 

That was how he had met Jesse in the first place. Through Lonnie, his girlfriend at the time. Jesse and Leon became best friends, and the three of them were inseparable. Then Lonnie got in trouble and was sent to away. A few months later, Jesse's dad was put away and they met Dom and the gang. 

----- 

Lonnie sat for an extra second in her car as she watched Leon climb out of his own. God. What was she doing here? This was not what she was supposed to be doing. She knew that. There was supposed to be no interaction between these people and herself. She lost that chance when only the other woman was there to answer the door in the beginning of the month. Oh shit. The woman was going to be there. 

Slowly, Lonnie cut the engine and stepped out of the Mustang, pulling her pants up in the process before shutting the door. She walked up calmly until she was just to Leon's right, while he stood at the front of his car. She should not be doing this. Leon grabbed her hand lightly in his and began pulling her into the back yard. The back yard where people were staring at her. 

"Don't I feel like an outsider," she muttered to herself, frowning when she heard Leon laugh in front of her. Now that just wasn't right. 

Just as she was about to make up some kind of excuse to leave, someone walked up to Leon, smiling wide. The woman had curly black hair pulled into a messy bun and wore black leather pants and a white tank top. "S'bout damn time you decided to grace us with your presence, Leon," she said. 

"Yeah, whatever. Letty, this is Lonnie," he said, hiking a finger in her direction. "Lonnie, you remember Letty, right?" Leon asked then, pointing to the woman in front of him. 

"Yeah, Lonnie, how you doin', girl?" Letty asked, sticking out her hand. 

"Pretty good, how 'bout you?" she responded, smiling. 

"Not too shabby." The woman seemed to think about something for a minute before speaking again. "That's Brian and Mia over there," she said, pointing to the blonde man and the brunette in the sundress that sat on a set of stairs. "You know Jesse, obviously, and I assume that you've met V." 

"And I'm sure you remember Dom, right?" Leon asked, motioning with his head towards the man that stood at the grill. He looked over his shoulder and offered her a smile, as if to ask her not to start trouble. In response to his silent plea, she squeezed his hand being he still hadn't let go. 

Jesse put something on the small picnic table that sat in the middle of the yard and turned to the rest of the group, clapping his hands together. "Can we eat now, Dom?" 

The big man at the grill dropped some pieces of meat onto a plate and brought it over to the table, dropping his large frame into a lawn chair that sat at the head of the table. "Yeah, let's eat." 

Lonnie startled in surprise when she felt Leon tug her over to the group of people. "Come on, Lonnie," he said, moving so that his arm rested on her shoulder. For a second, she walked straight, trying not to touch him, but after that second, she melted into his touch, leaning against his side. This was weird. This was like how it used to be. 

Together they came to the table; however, there was really no chance of her getting to sit next to him. The only empty seats were: one that sat as the end of the bench and another lawn chair at the end of the table. "Sit next to me, Lonnie," the scruffy looking one, Vince, said, patting the bench next to him. Leon smiled at her and took the lawn chair, motioning her to sit between him and Vince on the bench. "There you go, girl." 

Then everyone just sat there, staring at the food on the table and glancing slyly at each other, as if expecting someone to slip up. Out of curiosity, Lonnie leaned towards Leon and asked: "What are we waiting for?" 

He smiled at her and leaned closer. "First to touch the food has to say grace," he whispered. 

But no one reached in to touch the food. No one. Everyone sat at the table, pretty much sitting on their hands in order to avoid being the first one to dig in. When it became apparent that the group had more self-control now then in the past, the people surrounding the table turned to Dom. 

"V, since you've been out of the game for a while, why don't you say grace tonight?" 

When Vince groaned, everyone gave a little laugh. Jesse pretended to wipe sweat from his brow and let out a sigh of relief, and then more laughter erupted around the table. All around the table they lowered their heads and folded their hands. Lonnie chose to follow along with Vince's prayer, leaving out the fact that she was not Catholic or Christian in anyway. 

"We sit at this table, thankful for the food and the family that God has set before us. I personally would like to take this time to thank him for bringing Jesse and myself home. And for letting me keep my arm." 

For a minute, Lonnie wondered what that was all about? She knew that Jesse had been in the hospital because he was gunned down. But why Vince was there was completely beyond her. Everyone's quiet "Amen" cut her thoughts short. Silently, she thanked the Gods that she was back in Los Angeles, and hoped that she would be able to see Lena soon. 

Lena Silva had been her friend back in basic. Her best friend and confidant. 

"Let's eat," Dom shouted, making her jump. 

"So, Lonnie," Letty asked, plopping a piece of chicken onto her own plate, "what do you drive?" 

"Huh?" What the hell kind of a question was that? She looked over at the people that sat at the table. That's right, they were car people. Racers. Right. "A, uh, nineteen-ninety Ford Mustang." 

"Mustang, huh?" Dom asked, taking a spoonful of salad into his mouth. 

Lonnie nodded, smiling. "Yeah. I know. It's not as glorified as all those imports out there. But it gets the job done. It's fast." 

"I guess so." 

Leon nodded beside her, and she jumped once more when she felt his hand on her knee. "Dude, Dom, that was my first car," he told the man sitting opposite him at the table. 

"Well, I'm just saying-" 

"I'm not really into the imports," Lonnie explained. "I mean, don't get me wrong, they're nice cars. I'm sure the ones you got out there have some nice engines and work done to them. But I was always an American Muscle kind o' girl." 

"You know anything about cars?" 

Across the table and to her right, Jesse coughed a little on his drink. "Yeah, she knows something about cars. Enough to know how to steal them." 

Her head snapped to focus on her brother, and that was when she started choking on her drink, slamming her hand against her mouth in order to keep the soda in her mouth. Holy fucking shit. "Jesse!" she squeaked, taking in a short choppy breath. 

"So you steal cars, huh? That why you're here?" Dominic asked, eyebrows raised. 

"No," she said quickly, glancing quickly at Leon in panic. "No." 

"She's here to find out who took Jesse's car," Vince said, nudging her with his shoulder and wincing in the pain that he obviously caused himself. "Aren't you?" 

"Oh, fuck me," she said under her breath, shaking her head and blowing out her breath. There was no way she was going to win this one, but she could at least try, right? "I'm not here to find that out, either. Leon asked me to come over and I did. Now, if it's going to turn out that everyone is going to start accusin' me of checkin' out cars, I'll leave right now." 

Under the table, Leon gave her knee a reassuring squeeze. "Come on, guys. Give it a rest." He turned to Jesse: "Now you know that ain't right, bro." 

"It's all right, Leon, I don't need you to stick up for me," Lonnie said, half-smiling at him while she turned and leveled her eyes on Dom. "You wanna know if I steal cars? A few years ago, yeah. I did. I stole a lot of them..." 

"More than you can count using every appendage on your body." 

"_Thank you_, Jesse, but I can do this myself. So, yeah. I stole a lot of them. Am I here to scope out your cars? No. Am I here to find out who took Jess's car? I would like to know, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here because Leon said that Letty invited me over. And I _thought_ it would be nice to spend the day with my brother and his friends." She wiped her hands on her pants, lightly knocking Leon's hand off of her knee in the process. Lonnie stood up, nodding to Mia, Letty, and Brian. "It was nice to have met you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm sure I have some place better to be." 

"Lon-" she silenced Leon by holding up her hand, and then she turned and started across the lawn. "Dom, I'm tellin' you right now, dog. If she leaves, there's goin' to be a problem here," she heard Leon hiss. 

There was a heavy sigh. "Lonnie," Dominic's low voice rumbled across the yard. "Come on back here, girl. No one meant anything." But for some strange reason, she just didn't trust that, so instead of stopping, she kept on walking. "Lonnie..." 

"Jackson," someone whispered. 

"Lonnie Jackson, that was not a request, that was an order. Now get your fucking ass back onto that bench. Do not _insult_ me by not eating my food," Toretto ordered. 

Insult him? Him? Who the hell did this guy think he was? She was going to be insulting him? However, she was used to taking orders, so when she was handed some, she followed them. Dropping her chin to rest above her breastbone and she walked dutifully back to the bench. 

"The three of you better fucking apologize right now," Mia commanded sternly, and Lonnie felt her eyebrows rise in surprise. Mia, though she had only talked to her once, never really seemed the person to give orders. 

The guys never did apologize that night. Not while they ate dinner. Not while she helped Mia clear the picnic table. And certainly not while everyone settled down to watch a movie. 

"You can go watch the movie with everyone else, you know," Mia stated as Lonnie took a dish from her and started drying it with the little hand towel. "I'm good." 

"No, it's okay. It's more fun in here." She ran the towel over the dish, focusing on a spot of water on the counter. "I wanted to thank you." 

"For what?" the woman asked, handing her another bowl. 

Lonnie swallowed and cleared her throat. "For not telling Leon that I came by before." 

"Oh that?" 

"Yeah." 

"It's no big deal. I don't tell him things all the time." Then she nudged Lonnie with her shoulder. "So, you and Leon, huh?" 

"For a little while, yeah." 

"What about now?" She shrugged in response. "Not sure?" 

"Nope." 

Way back when, she wanted to have a second chance with him when her three years were up. Wanted to just show up on his front porch, see his father run to greet her at the door, and then run into Leon's arms and make the past just disappear. Unfortunately, that was not how things turned out. 

For one thing, over the past three years, they had had no contact with each other. No phone calls. No visits. Nothing. He didn't even know when she was coming back. If she was coming back. Besides, his friends didn't seem to like her all that much. 

"So what was Leon like back in high school? I'm assuming you knew him when he went to school." 

Lonnie nodded, moving her eyes from the spot on the counter to meet Mia's smirk. "Yes, I did. We met right before his senior year." 

"Really?" 

"Yes." 

"And what was he like?" 

"Lonnie, I swear to God, don't you answer that question." A voice said from behind them. 

----- 

"I'll go get us some popcorn, bro," he told Dom, taking the bowl from Vince in order to spare his friend the embarrassment. He managed, somehow, to make it over everyone that was sprawled across the floor in front of the television. Then he walked to the threshold between the living room and the kitchen, staying silent as the two women spoke. 

"So what was Leon like back in high school? I'm assuming you knew him when he went to school," Mia said, and he could see the evil smile on her face. 

Lonnie nodded, moving her head to meet Mia's smirk. "Yes, I did. We met right before his senior year." 

"Really?" 

"Yes." 

"And what was he like?" 

He panicked. "Lonnie, I swear to God, don't you answer that question." The two women turned to look at him, their eyes wide. "Yeah, that's right. I heard you Mia." 

"Leon, I-" 

"Don't try to talk yourself outta this one." 

"Aw, come on, Leon," Lonnie said, smiling as she leaned back against the counter. "You mean to tell me that no one here knows what you were really like back then?" 

He shook his head, moving forward to pull a bag of popcorn out of the cabinet. "No," he said, popping the bag into the microwave. "And they don't need to." 

"Well, Mia, let me tell you," she said, ignoring him, if only for that one smile she sent his way. "This one time, when we had skipped school to see a movie or something...the funniest thing happened-" 

He crossed the room then, placing his hand over her mouth as Mia laughed beside her. Yeah, all fun and games. He knew exactly what she was going to tell Mia about. The time she ran her mouth off to some guy at the theater and he ended up getting knocked on his ass, and then - as if that wasn't bad enough - some random kid threw up on him. That was the most awful thing that ever happened to him. Worse than when his mother left. 

And what was so horrible about it was that, here he was, this big man - eighteen-years-old and all - taking his fifteen-year-old girlfriend out for her birthday, and she starts a fight with some guy. He ends up getting knocked on his ass, then thrown up on, and _she_ beats the piss out of the other guy. 

Lonnie tried to speak, her words muffled against his palm. So slowly, cautiously, he pulled his hand away, looking pleadingly into her eyes. "Okay, okay. I won't tell her about that." 

"Thank you." 

"Another time on that one, Mia." 

Leon put his hand over her mouth again, this time sending both her and Mia into a fit of laughter. "Or not at all, Mia," he said, shaking his head. 

"You three are having too much fun in here," Brian said. Leon turned to see him leaning against the doorframe. "Mia, why don't we take the popcorn out to the Team, and leave Lonnie and Leon to catch up." 

"Sounds like a plan to me," Mia, the traitor, said, taking the popcorn bowl from his other hand and grabbing the bag from the microwave before following Brian from the room. Seconds later, laughter erupted from the other room, followed shortly by Dom's victory cry. 

So now, Leon stood in the kitchen with Lonnie and listened to the noises coming from the living room. His "family" was fun to be around when you needed to relax, but right now he just didn't have it in him to relax. 

He stepped back, removing his hand from her face and moving as far away from her as possible in the tiny space of the kitchen. 

"I see you took my advice," Lonnie said, leaning against the sink. 

"And what advice was that?" he asked, confused. 

"Forgetting about me. And you took Jesse along with you, thank you." There was no anger in her voice, no sarcasm; she was seriously thanking him. 

"You know I didn't forget about you." Leon looked over at her, at that moment she looked older than twenty, she looked more mature. "Did you forget about us?" 

"Which us? You and Jesse? Or," she held eye contact with him, "you and me?" 

"I could have gotten you outta it, you know." He had told her that repeatedly before she was sent away. "You didn't have to go boosting cars." 

"Leon, come on-" 

"No," he cut her off. He had been waiting for three years to yell at her and she wasn't going to stop him now. "Why didn't you tell me?" 

"What did you want to know, Leon? That the real reason you met me that night was because I was planning on stealing your best friend's car?" He looked over at her, shock coursing through his entire body. "Yeah, that's right, I was going to steal Greg's baby. And I would have gotten away with it, too, if you hadn't come out of the house." 

That sounded like something out of Scooby-Doo. "It was a party, what did you expect?" 

"Other people came out of that house, you were the only one who paid attention to the car." 

Leon grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and settled against the counter across from her. "That's fine, but we were dating for almost three years after that. You had all that time to tell me the truth." 

He watched her lift her arm and pull the hair away from her face. "Yeah, and when we started dating I stopped boosting cars." 

"Well, obviously not, because, low and behold, _you got arrested_." 

"I told you what happened that day. I went to say I was out and he set me up." She looked up at him, hurt evident in her eyes, and Leon felt his heart sink. "What does it matter, anyway? It's over and done with." 

"I don't know. I just need closure," he told her, leaving out the fact that seeing her made all of his old feelings return. 

She looked down at the floor and cracked her knuckles. "We've had three years. How much more closure do you need?" she asked without looking at him. "A whole hell of a lot more," he wanted to tell her. Seeing her, after all these years, grown up, mature, reformed. He remembered now why he loved her. "So which us were you talking about?" She broke through his thoughts. 

Leon thought about what she had asked and answered: "Both." 

"Then no. I haven't. You guys were what got me through." They looked at each other and sat in silence, listening to the people in the other room. Unconsciously, Leon stood from the counter he was leaning on and moved towards the other counter. Lonnie did the same, the two of them meeting in the center of the room. "Are you seeing anyone?" She whispered when they were mere inches apart. 

"No." No one that he could think of at least. 

She nodded and they moved even closer. Leon leaned his head down preparing to kiss her. Lonnie licked her lips and as his face moved closer she closed her eyes. Their mouths were millimeters apart. Leon could hear his heart pounding his chest. 

And it was then that he realized that the other room had gone silent; he hesitated. "Kiss her already, you fucking idiot!" V hissed from the doorway and everyone else started laughing. 

Lonnie's eyes flew open and she stepped back towards the counter, her right hand pressed against her mouth to hold in the laughter. 

Leon shook his head and looked at his best friend. "You're a fucking asshole. You know that, right?" He looked past Vince and saw the others peering into the room from their spots on the floor. "You're all fucking assholes." 

"We're all heading to bed, bro," Dom told him. 

"I should-" Lonnie looked down at her watch and gasped in shock- "really get going. I have a two hour ride home, and have to get up for work at six." 

He looked at the clock on the microwave and cleared his throat. It was three thirty in the morning. "I'll walk you to your car." 

She nodded and pushed past Vince, who was still grinning evilly. "Good night, all. Thanks for dinner." 

Following her outside, Leon said, "I'll stop by tomorrow. You can come back here for dinner again." 

Lonnie stopped at the driver's side door and smiled at him. "I'd like that." 

Her door opened up and she sat inside the car. Leon walked around to the now-open window, and leaned against the door. "I'm sorry for...back there." 

"Don't worry about it. I'll see you tomorrow." He nodded in response and she started the car and drove away, waving out the window. 

Quickly, he made his way back into the house, shutting the door behind him. Leon started at his friends in mock anger. "You know, I really hate you guys!" he growled at them. Everyone started laughing and he shook his head. "Goodnight." 

----- 

Lonnie turned into the parking complex at four o'clock in the morning and growled to herself. Man, did she ever want to kiss him. 

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There you go guys...Chapter Three. Sorry about the wait. 

If there's anyone interested in joining an RPG, please let me know....I'm running one as we speak.   
  


~LitlA~ 


	4. Chapter Four A

Chapter Four

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Lonnie stopped short half way across the street to avoid being hit by a car, her hand immediately flying to her rapidly beating heart. Instead of stopping or slowing down to assure himself of her health, the driver beeped rather rudely at her and sped off. When the car had passed, Lonnie made her way over to the other side of the street and leaned against a building. 

She needed to somehow get past the distraction that was Leon. He was all that she was able to think about for the past God knew how many hours, since she left him at three o'clock in the morning. But how was she supposed to forget about him when he was meeting her back at her dorm to take her out with the rest of his friends?

When her heart rate settled, as did her breathing, Lonnie took up a light jog before moving back into her pace from before. But her thoughts still drifted to Leon. There was no hope for her. He was going to be on her mind for the rest of the day, including – especially including – when she went out with him.

Two blocks of a swift pace were interrupted when something vibrated against her hip, faltering her step. It happened three more times before her brain kicked in and told her that her cell phone was ringing. Without slowing down, Lonnie felt around and unclipped the phone from the top of her track pants, answering without looking at the screen.

"Fucking _what_!" she asked, annoyed at the interruption.

"I thought you were meeting me at eleven thirty," Sans asked on the other end, sounding completely unfazed by her outburst.

"What _fucking_ time is it?"

"Twelve fifteen," he told her, his voice deadpanned. She could just imagine him glancing down at his watch.

Lonnie cursed to herself, immediately feeling bad for yelling at him. "Shit, man. I'm sorry. Where are you?"

Her partner, the great man that he was, forgave her outburst. "The gym. How far'd you run?"

"By the time I reach you, I should be hittin' five miles."

On the other end he laughed. "Start late?"

"Got in late."

"How far out are you?"

She rounded a corner, taking it wide in order to avoid a random pedestrian. "Got the gym in my sights, I'm saying two."

"Be seeing you."

"Be prepared to have your ass handed to you."

"You wish, babe. Out." Lonnie nodded, knowing he couldn't see her and shut the phone, clipping it back onto her pants. She glanced up, taking in the sight of the gym building and smiled. Why the hell was she so late?

When she was sure that the phone was safely clipped onto her pants, she picked up her pace, moving faster across the sidewalk. She sprinted the last few hundred yards to the building and pulled at a chain around her neck. As she went to slide her key card into the slot, the door flew open and someone barreled into her.

"Shit, sorry," the kid mumbled as he pushed past her and continued down the steps.

"Watch where you're going, asshole," was her reply before she surged forward in order to catch the door before it slammed shut once more. Once inside, she headed straight for the stairs.

The building was comprised of two floors. The first was basically five sets of aerobic mats for gymnastics and other exercises that required blue-mats. The second was not a complete floor; in the center there was giant gap that allowed people to look over the edge down at the mats. On this floor, there was an asphalt track and tons of weight equipment.

She found Sans lying across a padded bench, his arms fully extended at a ninety degree angle to his chest, his hands holding a bar that seemed to have at least two-hundred pounds, possible a lot more, on the sides in circular weights.

He brought the bar down to his chest, taking in a breath along the way. "You're late," he said, pushing the bar back up and nodding. His spotter, a well-muscled young man, grabbed the bar and helped him ease it on to two little risers.

"You're good," Lonnie answered sarcastically, sitting on a bench next to him. She picked up a white terry-cloth towel and hit him square in the chest with it. "How long have you been at it?"

Sans grabbed the towel from her and began wiping the perspiration off his body. He shook hands with his spotter, thanking the man, and then turned to address her: "A while."

"I'm sorry I'm late."

"I'll deal," he told her, standing. She followed suit, smiling when his arm went around her shoulders. "So weights or you wanna get down and dirty right now?"

A harsh laugh escaped her lips as her smile widened. Playfully she leaned closer and pretended to take in his scent. "Smells like you're dirty enough for the both of us."

"Ouch."

Slipping her arm around his waist, Lonnie propelled them forward towards the stairs. "I can work out during the week. Besides, I promised to kick your ass, remember." With a bark off laughter, her partner swooped her into his arms and barreled down the stairs. "Christ, Sans! You trying to get us killed?" she asked, holding him tightly while laughing.

"Maybe," he answered as he set her down on the blue mat. "Now, prepare to have your ass handed to you."

Her eyebrow rose. "By whom?"

"Me."

"Yeah? You and what Army?"

He lifted his shirt from his body and tossed it to the floor, simultaneously toeing off his shoes. When that was down, Sans reached his arms out to his sides, flexing his biceps. "This Army."

Using his movements as an example, Lonnie stripped off her own her shit - revealing a black sports bra - and shoes, along with her socks. She dropped her cell phone into the sole of one sneaker and glanced over at her friend, flexing her own muscles. "What now, bi-otch?"

The man raised his chin to her, his eyes narrowing. "Let's stretch you out." The two of them sat down on the mat, the soles of their feet meeting to form a small diamond. They held hands, wrists crisscrossed, and a pulled at each other.

Each time they completed a set, they moved their legs further apart until they formed a very wide diamond. Lonnie pulled him towards her, her upper body going almost all the way to the mat behind her, the top of his head coming close to her lower body. Then he moved back, pulling her up with and towards him.

"That's what I'm talking about," she heard him mutter and looked up. From the look in his eyes, she knew exactly what he was talking about.

"You are such a perv," Lonnie said, releasing his hands and pulling the top of her bra up higher.

"That's why you love me, babe."

With a sigh of false exasperation, she pushed herself into a backward somersault and stood, Jim following slowly behind. "No, I love you because you saved my ass once, remember?" Silence fell over them as they started to circle each other, waiting for the other to make the first move. He moved first, lashing out with a right hook that was blocked and countered.

To anyone else in the gym, it would appear as though Lonnie, a woman easily six inches shorter and a foot thinner than her partner, had no chance of winning against Sans, or even surviving one blow from the linebacker-sized man. And that was clearly illustrated as she threw an arm out backwards and was flipped to her back on the mat.

"I'll take first point," he said, mockingly leaning over her.

With a feral growl, Lonnie kicked up flipping to her feet, smiling evilly at him. There tended to be a small problem that arose when they sparred together. They circled for a few seconds before she dropped to her hands and kicked his feet out from underneath him. As he fell to the floor, she sprang forward and landed on his chest.

"Second." They tended to get a little competitive.

Sans kissed the air between them and flipped her over his body, sending her back onto the mat. He slid across to the side and threw a leg out that connected softly with her stomach, making her laugh. 

"Third." The two of them scrambled to their feet, eager to square off against each other once more. "You weren't in your room last night," he told her, coming out with a sweeping right hook. 

Lonnie leaned back, watching his fist fly by, and came back with an uppercut, stopping short of his chin. "Fourth. I know."

The only rule during their sparing sessions – besides "anything goes" – was that nothing was to be touched above the shoulder. For example, her previous move. He was easily caught off guard and would have been knocked unconscious if she hit him with just the right amount of force. However, she hadn't even touched him. Contact above the shoulders in any threatening manner was forbidden.

"Where'd you go?" he asked, stepping back. He moved quickly after asking the question, sweeping his leg up and out in a crescent kick.

Ducking under his leg, she shook her head at his nosiness. "And they say I'm the chick of the relationship. Man, you're worse than a chick." When he made no move to answer, she threw her arm out.

James caught her wrist and spun her as a man would spin a dance partner, before bending her arm behind her back and slipping his forearm around her throat. "Fifth." He leaned down playfully, smelling her hair. "Mm, what is that?"

Lonnie froze, a smile on her face. "Herbal Essences."

"Smells good."

"Then tell Maria to use it." Maria was Sans' girlfriend of seven years, and the only civilian – that Lonnie knew of – that knew of their status in the CIA. "So how's Maria?"

"She's doing good. She sends her regards."

"Tell her I said hi," Lonnie said, smiling over her shoulder at him.

"Will do." 

"So when you asking her to marry you?"

"I'm thinking Thanksgiving."

"That's in two weeks." Finally getting tired of standing in the same spot for so long, she elbowed him in the stomach with her free arm. "Six." As his grip faltered slightly, she grabbed his forearm, twisted slightly, and flipped him over her shoulder onto the mat. "Seventh," Lonnie taunted, settling herself in his stomach.

They stayed like that for a while, each of them panting for breath. "So where'd you go last night."

"Caught up with my brother, Leon, and a couple of their friends."

He nodded and suddenly his legs came up and scissored her chest before pulling her back to the mat. "Eight," he told her as he held her captive with his feet. "That's cool. Wait. Leon? As in _the_ Leon?"

"Is there another one?" Lonnie pinched the inside of his thigh, standing quickly as he yelped and withdrew his legs. "Nine."

Sans stood up in front of her, rubbing his leg. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"I know I am."

"You have fun?"

"Su-" Her sentence was cut off as her partner tackled her to the ground. "Umph."

"Ten." James nodded as he leaned back lightly on her thighs. "That's good."

She grabbed his shoulders, and bucking her lower body, tossed him over her head to the mat. Without skipping a beat, she somersaulted backwards and landed squarely on his chest. "Eleven. It was."

"Lonnie?" She knew that voice. Dammit! That was not a good voice.

Lonnie looked over, her brows knitted together. "Leon?" his voice came out in a squeak, as he frowned at her. The next thing she knew, she was lying on her back, the wind flying out of her lungs at the force that Sans had flipped her with. 

Her partner came over then, helping her to her feet and steadying her. "Twelfth and final," he laughed in her ear, before turning to Leon. "So, _you're_ Leon? I've heard so much about you. I'm James Sans."

Leon hesitantly shook hands with Sans, cutting his eyes back and forth between the other man and Lonnie, before settling on him. "Really? I've heard nothing about you." The two men stared off at each other.

She cleared her throat, trying to put an end to the staring match. "Leon, what are you doing here?"

"You were supposed to meet me at your dorm at twelve, remember?" Lonnie felt like slapping herself in the head. This was just turning out to be the worst day ever.

"You're just late for everything today, aren't you?" Sans asked, teasingly. "You should head out now. I'll talk to you tomorrow."

She got the hint and ran over to her belongings, quickly slipping on her shirt and shoes, stuffing her socks into one pocket and cell phone into the other as she went along. "I'll talk to you tomorrow," she said, kissing Sans quickly on the cheek before grabbing Leon's forearm and steering him out of the building.

"It was nice meeting you, Leon," her partner called as the door shut behind them.

Lonnie forced a smile over at Leon as they walked down the steps of the building. "Sorry I forgot. I woke up late and everything just went down hill from there."

When they reached the bottom of the steps, he shook his arm from hers and stepped away. "What the fuck was that, Lon?"

"The fuck was what?"

"That shit with that guy?"

"What? Sans?" She shook her head at him, looking out over the parking lot. "What's the problem with him?"

"You mean besides me walking in and finding you on top of him?" he asked, glaring over at her. "I should've known better," was whispered next.

Her eyes went wide at the accusation in his voice. "Do you think we can talk about this some place away from prying ears?" He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes. She knew that look. It said: "I'm not going anywhere unless I know what's going on."

"Lon-"

Lonnie sighed, knowing there was no way out of any kind of explanation. But was the hell was she supposed to tell him? That she worked for the black ops division of the CIA? Yeah, that would go over well.

It didn't help that she didn't have Sans' clearance, or that if she told him it would be serious grounds for a dress-down from the General, would mean her indefinite relocation, and possibly the last thing Leon ever got to talk about. No, she could deal without telling him the truth right now.

"He's my parole officer of sorts."

"What does that mean? "Of sorts?""

"When I got out of Chowchilla, the set me up with this job, doing some low-level shit," she told him, shrugging her shoulders. "Sans also works at the company, so they set him up to be my contact to the big guys back upstate."

He looked at her as if disbelieving what she had to say. However, after a second of consideration, he shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever. I'm parked over here."

The resignation in his voice, the lost hope, made her sigh in frustration. Yeah, why should he believe her? She hadn't exactly been the most truthful person before being sent away.

Lonnie got into his Skyline and he pulled out of the spot. "I think I should get changed, if you don't mind." He grunted a response. "Look, Chief, nothing's going on with me and Sans. He's got a fiancé for Christ's sake." Like that ever stopped anyone before.

He pulled the car into the parking lot across from her dorm. "Do you want me to wait for you down here?"

-----

Leon shook his head at his own stupidity. He was doing it again. Falling without a care of what was at rock bottom. And all he needed was a smile from her. Just a simple smile.

"This look okay?" Lonnie asked, coming to stand right in front of him.

He looked up, finding himself face to face – so to speak – with her stomach. Not her bare stomach, but one could only dream. Shit. He felt himself get hard at the thought of what lie just beyond that layer of clothing. Leon moved his upper body back a little, his muscles tightening as he strained to look up at her.

"You look fine." She was wearing a simple pair of jeans and a T-shirt.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He tried to move himself around, trying to adjust his clothes around his growing erection. Damn it. Having her just standing there was not helping.

"Thanks," she said, smiling and he glanced at her mouth just in time to watch her lick her lips. Leon had to lock his jaw in order to conceal the growl that threatened to leave the back of his throat. Damn, did he ever want her.

He nodded, moving a little further back on the bed. "No problem. It's true." Her smile widened and he knew that she saw just how much he wanted her. "So…"

"Yup, so…"

His mouth opened, but shut quickly. He was about to ask if she was ready to go, but was cut off when she sat straddling his hips. "What-"

"Shh…" Her index finger went to his lips and his eyes went wide. "Missed you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Her mouth then replaced her finger. At first, Leon sat stiff, his brow furrowed, but slowly – as her lips moved away from his – he came back to, frowning as Lonnie pulled back, moving to stand from his lap. "I'm sorry," she said, this time her voice small.

Before she was able to move completely, he reached out and gripped her waist, pulling her back against him. She started to protest, but he took advantage of her surprise by claiming her mouth with his. As he pulled away, Leon couldn't help but smile impishly at her. "Missed you too." He watched as her eyes lit up at his words and he brought her closer.

Lonnie rocked her hips against him, making him jump and moan at the same time. She reached her hands between them, one reaching under his shirt, the other resting on his thigh. Leon moved his hands from her waist to around her back. His fingers slipped under her shirt to the clasp of her bra. Then they both froze.

"We should stop," he told her, pulling back. He removed his hands, resting them once more on her hips.

She pulled her hand out from under his shirt, but left her other hand on his thigh, trailing her fingers across the inside of his pants. "Right, if you say so."

He sighed heavily. "Look, I want to keep this going," he told her, tightening his grip around her body as she started to stand once more. "It's just…you just got out. I don't want to push you."

Her answer came in the form of her hips rocking against him once again, removing her hand from between them and pulling her body flush against his, trapping his erection. "I'll stop…only if it's what you want. Not because you're afraid I might not want it."

"God…" He bit his lower lip to suppress the moan forming in the back of his throat as Lonnie continued to roll her hips against him.

"No strings attached," she whispered huskily, leaning forward. He nearly lost it when she started sucking and nibbling on the column of his throat.

No strings attached? "Wait." With other women that was acceptable, why would he want to wake up next to some racer chaser anyway? With Lonnie though, things had always been different. They were not about to change.

"What now?" Lonnie asked with a heavy sigh.

"Look, I can't do this."

"Some parts don't seem to agree with you there," she replied, as if to prove her point, she rolled her hips.

Leon took a deep breath and tried to will his erection away. It did not work, so instead he let his brain talk him out of this one. "We gotta meet with the team," he answered, lifting her from his lap and setting her on the bed next to him.

Lonnie sighed and adjusted her shirt around her body. "Right," she rolled her eyes, "your team." Yeah, it was a cheap cop-out, but it was the only plausible excuse he could think of without moving into some philosophical conversation about how he did not want to violate her.

"Can we just save it for later?" he asked, looking pleadingly at her. "I mean, can we talk about this tonight." She gave him a half smile. "Good, thank you." He adjusted himself slightly, trying to get a little bit more comfortable. "Oh, grab your suit, because I think that we're all heading to the beach." Yeah, just what he needed after all that: to see Lonnie in a bikini.

Her face brightened a little, something he took as a good sign. "The beach? Man, I don't even remember the last time I've been there."

"We'll you're about to see it again." She moved from her seat on the bed, walking over to a case that sat on the floor. "Still haven't unpacked?"

With a smile, she shook her head. "No, for some reason I didn't get in till late last night and failed to get anything done."

He got the hind and shut his mouth, moving from the bed to stand at the door. "Yeah, yeah. Get a move on."

"Ready," she said, holding a bundle of material up in triumph. Lonnie stuffed it into her purse, shouldering the strap, and made her way over to the door.

"Good."

"Okay, let's go."

"Finally," he said in false exasperation. Together the two of them moved out of her room and down the hallway towards the elevator. "You want to take your car?"

She hesitated then and he thought for a second that she was going to back out of going with him. "How would I get back if we took only your ride?"

Leon frowned as they boarded the elevator; that was a really good question. But, if he wanted to continue where they had left off just a few minutes ago, he thought, she could always spend the night and he could take her home in the morning.

"I'll bring you home later."

She smiled over at him as they stepped onto the bottom floor and walked across to exit the building. "Hell-bent on getting some ass tonight?" Lonnie asked and he felt his face go pale. Damn, she still knew him so well. "Don't get your hopes up, buddy. It might've just been a one-time offer."

"I wasn't even thinkin' like that, Lon, I swear to God," he lied.

"It was a joke, Leon. Take it easy."

His jaw dropped as he looked at her, a smirk plastered on her face. "Don't even joke like that." Leon watched as she shrugged her shoulders and moved over to the passenger side of his car. "That shit ain't even funny."

"Ain't funny because it's true? Or because you ain't like that anymore?" He unlocked the car and sat down, waiting for her to get in next to him. When she did, he started the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. "Silence," she whispered, a smile evident in her voice.

"What the fuck's your problem today, Lon?" he asked, glaring at her out of the corner of his eye.

"Just tryin' to lighten up the mood a little bit. Jesus. I'll try not to make light of things anymore."

Christ. This was going to be one long ass day if things continued the way they were going. "Let's just call a truce for now, deal?"

"Yeah, deal."

"Good."

"Fine."

They sat in silence for the rest of the ride, the only noise – beside the roar of the engine – was his radio. Needless to say, in that time, his anger and confusion succeed in getting rid of his hard-on. He pulled off the highway and made quick work of the side streets that led to the house, pulling up behind Letty's 240SX. He got out of the car and walked around to the front, waiting for her to join him. The team didn't need to know that the two of them were arguing already. That was ground for Mia's mind to get going.

Lonnie half-smiled at him, shoving her hands into the front pockets of her jeans. She nodded her head towards the house. "I'll keep quiet in there, okay?"

Leon ran a hand over his freshly buzzed head, sighing in frustration. God, this was going to be hell. "Let's just pretend that this afternoon didn't happened." He caught her frown and quickly added: "Just until we figure out what exactly did happen, okay?" She nodded. "I didn't mean for it to come out the way it did."

"I understand," she said, and he could tell that the smile was forced. Without waiting for a reply of any kind from him, Lonnie motioned for him to follow and started for the door.

He sighed again, wondering if he was ever going to stop doing that, and started after her. "Lonnie, wait up," he called out, his voice heavy with frustration. When she didn't stop, he tried again: "I'm sorry, all right? Please stop."

"No, it's okay, Leon. I understand what you meant. Don't worry about it."

He picked up the pace, jogging fast enough to catch her right before she opened the front door. Lonnie froze the second his hands went to her waist. God, this felt so familiar. Like how all their other arguments had ended, right before he took her to bed. This was like coming home; he just couldn't help himself. "Please just hear me out," he whispered, his lips finding their way to her neck. He took her stillness as an act of encouragement and pulled her back against his chest. "I'm sorry, baby."

"No," she replied, prying his hands from her body. "No! This is not happening." Lonnie spun on him then, not looking too happy. The next thing he knew, he was on his ass near the edge of the porch. "You're such a jerk sometimes, you know that?" That said, she turned and entered the house, shutting the door behind herself.

It took him a moment to realize that she had punched him and that his lip was now bleeding. But that didn't matter as Leon sat on the porch, looking at the closed door. What mattered was that he just fucked up big time. Slowly he stood up and walked to the door, twisting the handle.

Only to find the lock set firmly in place. "Fuck." So much for not having the team know they were fighting. Reluctantly, he raised his hand and knocked, waiting for the humiliation to start.

"Welcome to the doghouse," Dom said the second he opened the door, a big grin plastered on his face. "Don't know what you did, bro. But a word of advice: clean that lip up and steer clear. Lonnie's seein' red."

Leon nodded, pushing past him and into the house. "That's for the heads-up, dawg."

Dom closed the door and followed him through the house. "Mia and Letty took her out back to cool off. What the hell happened?"

He looked over at the other man; if he was going to tell anyone, it might as well be Dom. "Things got a little heated back at her place."

"You didn't push her, did you?" the other man asked as if scolding a little child.

"No. But she got pretty damn close to pushing me," he admitted, starting up the stairs for the bathroom.

Dominic laughed as he followed him upstairs, his feet pounding on the steps. "_You_ turned down _sex_?" his voice boomed. Probably everyone in the whole damn city now knew his problem.

"Thanks, Dom," Leon said dully, turning on the sink in the bathroom.

"What happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He wet a wash cloth and pulled it towards his face.

"Couldn't get it up? You still have that thing that --"

"No!" The wash cloth froze in mid air as he stared back at his friend through the mirror. "I told you that was a long time ago." Dominic was just begging for an ass whooping, Leon could tell by the smirk on his face. "_Thank_ you, Dom. But no, that was definitely _not_ the problem."

"Then what was?" his friend asked, his smirk dropping as he moved forward to sit on the toilet.

"I really don't want to talk about it right now," he answered, leaning down to run some water over his face. A towel came into view out of the corner of his eye. "Thanks."

"She got you good, huh?" Dom asked as he took the towel and patted his face with it.

Leon winced as the dry towel ripped away the scab that had started forming over the cut. "Yeah, she's got a mean right hook."

"Yeah, I noticed." There was silence for a few seconds before he added: "Gotta talk to her, bro."

"Not going to help." Leon wiped at the last few drops of blood and glanced up at the mirror to see his friend looking at him with an eyebrow raised. "Don't worry… I'm going to talk to her. I'm just say that it will not do any good right now."

"I know how that is. Letty gets like that some times." They shared a smile before both broke into laughter. "We should head out."

"Right."

"Mia made sandwiches." Leon followed Dom from the bathroom and downstairs where the other man called out to the rest of the team. "Yo, guys, let's move out!"

Everyone starting milling in then, slowly moving around the house and into the living room. "Okay, Dom, let's go," Mia said as she walked in, her arm thrown over Lonnie's shoulders. "Lonnie's gonna ride with me and Letty."

The knowing looks that passed between the three women were enough to make his ears burn in embarrassment. Doghouse, here I come, he thought, following the team out of the house. This was seriously turning out to be one of the worst days of his life.

"All right, we'll all pile into four cars. Ladies, you can all go with Let. Brian, you're with me. Jess, go with V. And, Leon, you're on your own. Good?"

"Yeah," he muttered, heading over to his Skyline. He got in behind the wheel and started her up, looking up to see Letty's car parked in front of his. Leon's head slammed against his steering wheel and he sighed in defeat. "This sucks."

-----

Lonnie sat on the blanket next to Letty, watching as the guys – minus Brian, who was sitting on the other blanket with Mia - played a game of beach-touch football. She was enjoying herself, had been for the past hour, even though she wasn't talking to Leon. There was a good possibility that she would have been speaking to him, had he not come up on her the way he had. He had no right to do that.

No right.

That didn't stop her from training her eyes on him every second she got, though. The guys spent about fifteen minutes running around under the hot sun before they all stripped down to their swim trunks and kept playing. And watching the play of his muscles under his skin – 

Lonnie gripped the corner of the blanket till her knuckles went white to avoid growling with lust. Yup, she was horny.

"You all right there, Lonnie?" Letty asked, a smile in her voice.

She forced herself to look at the other woman, her grip relaxing a little as she smiled slightly. "I'm fine. Why?" Letty just smiled knowingly at her, which did nothing but frustrate Lonnie even more. With a sigh, she reached down and pulled her T-shirt over her head, revealing her bikini that she had changed into in Letty's room before leaving the house. "I'm going to go cool off in the water."

"I'm sure you are," she replied in a drawl. 

Lonnie laughed, shaking her head. "You can stop that now, Letty. Ain't even like that." She stood from her spot on the blanket, unzipping her jeans in the process. They fell straight down to her feet and she kicked them at her friend as she walked off. "I'll be back in a bit."

The sand was hot under her toes, which only made the water all the colder as she dove in right under a wave. When she broke the surface, she started to shiver. Mindless of the chill chattering at her teeth, she swam towards the open sea, ducking under the passing waves. When the water was about chest deep, Lonnie stopped and dipped her head under before surfacing and treading water. She looked around her body, taking in the never-ending blue water, the surfers a few hundred yards away, and the blonde guy with the surf board making his way towards her.

"S'up gorgeous?" he asked, stopping a few feet away.

"Nothing much. You?" Lonnie took a peek back at the shore to see that the team was still as she left them.

"Can't complain," the guy answered, shrugging his shoulders. "My friend," he indicated a guy that was coming up behind him, "wanted to know if that's Dominic Toretto you're hanging out with back on the sand."

"And if he is?" she asked hesitantly.

"Do you think we can get it autograph?" the friend asked, rushing over to her.

Lonnie took an involuntary step back at the invasion of her person space and raise an eyebrow. "Easy there, surfer boy," she said, treading water. Why the hell would they want Dom's autograph?

"Man, I can't believe Dom is _here_," the first kid said, shaking his head in wonder.

She glanced back at the team, watching as Vince tackled Dom to the ground, and wondered what the hell was so special about Dom? She turned to the two kids, an eyebrow raised. "You seriously want his autograph?" The blonde took a step toward her, making her take another involuntary step back. "Distance, surfer boy, distance."

"Could you do that? Would you?"

"Sure..." Both eyebrows went up as the boys exchanged a high-five before motioning for her to lead the way. "Why don't you two wait here? If he's up to signing autographs or talking to you, I'll signal you over, okay?" Without even waiting for them to utter a response in their excited state, Lonnie turned and swam back to shore, riding a wave until the water came up to her knees. "Yo, Dom!" Every member of the team stopped what they were doing and turned to her. "Why wasn't I informed that I ran the risk of being attacked by your groupies whenever I'm near you guys?"

Letty left her spot on the blanket and met Lonnie halfway up the beach. "What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice filled with anger. "My Skank-O-Meter didn't pick up anything." Her eyes cut to Dom, her brow furrowed.

Lonnie wasn't really sure what that meant as she looked between the couple. There was definitely something that she had missed somewhere along the line, but instead of questioning it, she changed the subject. "No, not chicks. The two dudes sitting out there in the water. They're waiting for your autograph."

Everyone started laughing and she applauded herself for breaking the tension. "Are you fucking serious, Lon?" Dom asked, looking out over the water.

"I wouldn't look at them unless you're willing to sign an arm or something," she advised him, keeping still. "I told them not to come over unless someone gave them a sign. So don't get their hopes up by looking."

"Mi, you think we got enough soda for them to join us?"

Mia shrugged her shoulders, a smile on her face. "I guess. Why? You feeling nice or something?"

Dom smiled back. "Well, if they went through all the trouble to search out Lonnie while she was out there, and then wait for her to give them the go-ahead... I think that deserves at least a soda. I don't know 'bout you guys, but it's only right."

Lonnie nodded, then turned, waving the guys in from the water. They moved in quickly, rushing right up to her as if they were now afraid of Toretto himself. As if it was safe to idolize someone from afar, but up close one was not allowed to do anything. "Go introduce yourselves. I'm not your mother." Rolling her eyes, she turned away, walking straight into her own brother. "What's up, Jess?"

"You're wet."

She laughed. "Well I was just in the water."

He raised his eyebrows at her, a smirk tugging at his lips. "You're about to go back in," he told her in a monotonous voice.

Her smile faded and her brow furrowed in confusion. "Huh?" Arms circled her waist and lifted her off her feet. Lonnie resisted the urge to let her instincts kick in, knowing it was only one of the guys, and instead tried to turn to see who it was. When she couldn't crane her neck enough too see who was holding her, she saw that his arms gave him away. "Vince, what do you think you're doing?"

They turned towards the water then. "I've been dying to do this since I met you back in the hospital, looking all stuck up and shit." When the water came up to her knees, which her now just about as high as his waist, she was lifted higher.

"Vince, you should be careful, you don't want to hurt your arm," someone called to them from the shore.

"I'll be fine," he shouted and she was lifted just a little bit higher. "She weighs next to nothing." Vince lifted her high enough to rest on his shoulder for a second while he moved his hands from her waist down to her upper thighs. Without warning, he tossed her into the air, and straight into an oncoming wave.

The shock of the cold water took her breath away as she went under. It took her a few extra seconds to actually find the ocean floor and kick off, throwing her hair out of her face as she surfaced. Once she got her baring straight, she noticed that he was right there next to her, holding her steady by the arm. "You think I'm stuck up?" she asked him, her voice a little high from the chill.

He chuckled, threw an arm around her shoulders, and started back to the team. "I said you looked stuck up."

"You know, I should kick your ass for that little stunt you just pulled," she said, bumping him with her hip.

"You can try, girlie?"

"Is that an invitation?"

His arm around her shoulders tightened playfully, pulling her closer. "Are you willing to take me up on it?" They grinned at each other. "Oh, I'm scared."

"As you should be." Quickly she slipped from under his arm and reached around, pulling him into a headlock. He struggled for a bit before settling down, gripping her arm lightly as he laughed.

"Damn, you're fast," he tugged at her arm, "and helluva lot stronger than you look." Suddenly, Vince froze, releasing her arm. "But you still have a weakness."

"Yeah? And what's that?"

A hand latched on to her kneecap under the water. "You're ticklish."

Lonnie schooled her features in order to avoid smiling at his childish antics. "Am I?"

"Oh, yes." Then he started tickling her knee, stopping when she didn't laugh. "Not ticklish?"

"Nope, sorry."

"It's quite all right." He released her knee, but instead of trying to get out of the headlock once more, he reached down, clipping both her legs at the knees, and cradled her to his chest, forcing her grip to break. Lonnie kept one arm around his shoulder to ensure her safety and let the other one rest in her lap. "Comfy?" he asked, slipping an arm around her back for support.

"Yes, very." His right arm twitched against her back. "Your arm okay?"

"Yeah, fine. You're not heavy enough to hurt it."

"Hey. I'm all muscle." She pouted playfully before smiling once again. He only nodded and moved back towards the beach, faltering slightly when he hit solid ground. "Don't drop me, bro."

"I won't." Vince smiled evilly down at her. "Yo, Leon!" She stiffened at his words – her eyes going wide - not understanding what he doing. "Got something for you, bro." Lonnie felt someone move up on her other side, and forced herself to loosen her grip to avoid hurting Vince's neck, knowing it was Leon. "Take 'er off my hands, bro. She's killing my arm."

As she was passed to Leon, her brow furrowed. "You said you were okay," she growled indignantly. If she had known that his arm was hurting, she would have insisted that he put her down.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." And before either one of them were able to protest, Vince was moving over to Dom and his two groupies, shouting something to Mia about food.

"Do you mind if we go out there and talk away from the team?" Leon asked, his voice starling her.

"As long as you put me down," she said, looking at him expectantly. He complied with her wishes, placing her down and motioning to the open sea before them. Then, together, they started out into the water, Lonnie frowning along the way. Was she seriously going to do this?

Deep down she wanted everything to go back to the way it was. Where everything was about the two of them together. But she knew it could never be like that again. Not with the life she was forced to live. The life that he could never know about, which went right back to their previous years together. The years where she hid lies and truths from him. Was she seriously going to draw him into that?

"I wanted to apologize for back at the house."

She nodded, not trusting herself to speak. This was the point of no return right here. Actually, the point of no return had been when she came on to him over two hours ago. Her hand right hand moved to her head, her fingers messaging her temple, trying to get rid of the impending headache.

"Look, Lonnie, I'm sorry. I was out of line." She nodded again, which seemed to piss him off, because his voice raised slightly. "Talk to me, Lonnie. I know I was fucking off, but come on!"

Lonnie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, thinking over what she was going to say. "I'm not pissed off at you, Leon." Her left hand came up and started messaging her other temple. Yeah, she was getting on hell of a headache. "I mean, you had no right to lay your hands on me, but I didn't really have any right to punch you." He moved to speak, but she cut him off. "But I would do it again if you even think about pulling anything like today again."

Leon's mouth opened and shut a few times, as if he was thinking up an excuse. The only thing he seemed able to come up with was a mumbled "sorry." He stopped her when they were about waist deep in water, glancing back at the people on the shore. "I think this is far enough."

"You sure we're far enough away?" she asked, following his gaze to the team. They appeared small from the distance. Damn, the two of them were a way out. She saw him nod out of the corner of her eye. "Good, 'cause if we go any deeper, I won't be able to breathe."

"You wanna head back then?"

"No," she replied, shaking her head. Quickly, she slipped under the water, wetting her hair back before standing and facing him again. "It's quiet out here." She sighed to herself. Yeah, this was exactly what she needed.

-----

Leon couldn't help but let his eyes follow the droplet of water that ran from her hairline, down her face, over her shoulder, and down the valley between her breasts. God hated him. It was official; God was torturing him for something that he had done in a previous life. This was karma of the worst kind.

Why couldn't she have worn a tasteful one-piece or something? 

He ran a hand over his head, rubbing the back of his neck as she rubbed her temples. "I also wanted to talk about what happened at the dorm."

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched her hands freeze and heard her take in a sharp breath. "Can we not?"

"I wish we didn't have to...but I think for us to actually be comfortable with each other, we have to."

Lonnie shrugged her shoulders, half-smiling at him. "Don't over analyze this, Leon."

"What? Why?" His eyebrow drew forward in confusion. "Not understanding."

Her face turned red. "It's just really embarrassing and I'd rather not talk about it." He looked at her, unsure of the meaning of her statement. "Look, I put myself out there, you shot me down. I don't want to dwell on it." The realization dawned on him slowly and he couldn't help but smirk. In answer to his nonverbal response, she turned and started back towards the team. "If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go shoot myself."

When her back was to him and she was moving away, his smile widened. Yeah, it was good to know that he wasn't the only one affected this way. "Lonnie, hold up," he called, diving into the water after her. Thankfully she stopped and he was able to catch up with her a few yards away. "Thanks. Okay," Leon moved ahead and turned to face her, finding it hard to keep the smirk from his face. "If it makes you feel any better, I wouldn't shoot you down again. And I mean that in the cleanest way possible."

For a second he thought she was going to deck him again, but instead he found himself being tackled under the water. "You're such a pig," she told him as soon as they both surfaced, her hands still on his waist. "Besides, it might've just been a one-time offer."

He nodded, knowing that things were now good between them once more. "One-time offer, huh?" he asked, slipping his own hands around her waist and pulling her closer. "I might not let it stay that way."

"Oh, really?" she asked, moving her arms from his waist to lock her hands together at the nape of his neck.

"Yeah." 

"I don't think you have much of a choice in the matter. I mean, if I could kick Sans' ass…" her voice trailed off as she broke eye contact with him. Leon, not sure what was going on, stooped down to try and look into her eyes, but all he was able to see was her smirk. "And, well, you saw your buddy, Vince. The only reason he got out was because he picked me up."

"Oh really?"

"Are you questioning my fighting abilities, Leonard?" she asked, meeting his eyes once more.

He blanched at the use of his full name before recovering with a frown. "I'll beg you never to call me that in public again."

He watched as she raised an eyebrow. "Beg, huh?" A smiled tugged at his lips in response. "Are we talking like groveling?" He gripped her hips a little tighter, pulling her closer. "Or on your hands and knees, begging? Because I could definitely get used to that-" Lonnie's words were cut off when he pressed his lips to hers briefly. "Well, if that's what you consider begging, you're gonna have to do a little better than that."

An eyebrow went up. "Better?"

"Yeah, well, you did pretty good that time. But I'm sensing potential for better."

"Yeah?"

"Mmm-hmm."

"Can I try again?"

"Well, I don't know..."

"You gonna make me beg?"

"But you're so good at it." He leaned down once more, pulling her closer and smiled when he felt her pull his face closer before messaging the back of his neck with one hand and running the other over his hair. Then he kissed her, taking advantage of her slight surprise by slipping his tongue in to explore her mouth. After three years, she was uncharted territory all over again.

Slowly, reluctantly, Leon moved back, grinning as she opened her eyes to look at him. "That any better?"

"Yeah, but I'm sure you'd get better with practice," she said, her words sounding breathy.

"Practice?"

"Lots and lots of practice."

"You willing to help me out there?" Leon asked, moving towards her.

Lonnie looked up at him. "I'm sure I can manage somehow."

The shrill whistled that sounded next startled the both of them, making the two jump apart, their eyes darting to the coast. "Come on, you two," Dom called out to them, "We're heading out, it's getting cold." Leon and Lonnie were back on the shore and cleaning up in a matter of minutes. "You two okay, I take it?" Dom asked, coming over to Leon who was pulling a hoodie over his head.

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." He shook droplets of water out of his hair and smiled over at his friend. "We're kind of just-"

"Don't you fucking dare!" The scream startled him, cutting off his statement. Both Leon and Dom turned around just in time to see Vince throw Lonnie into a breaking wave, fully clothed. She came back up, gasping for air. "Fucking, asshole!"

"Shit," Leon mumbled to himself, before elbowing Dom in the side. "I gotta go take care of this."

"Think V's in trouble?"

"I think V has no chance." With that he ran across the sand, pulling the hoodie that he had just put on off and stopping at Lonnie's side to help her out of the water. "Easy, baby."

She looked at him out of the corner of her eye, the look of death. Scared the shit out of him. "Don't "easy baby" me." Leon hushed her, slipping an arm around her shaking shoulders. "I'm cold," she told him, her teeth chattering. "I'm gonna fucking kill him."

"Put this on," he ordered, holding out his sweatshirt. "Take off that shirt and put this one on. You can take of your bathing suit top when you're ready."

"I'm gonna make him bleed."

"Calm down," he growled quietly, nodding at Dom who started ushering everyone to the cars. "Just fucking relax."

"These are the only clothes I have with me and they're fucking drenched. So I won't just fucking relax."

He laughed slightly, which only seemed to piss her off even more, but tightened his arm around her shoulders as she started to move away from him. "Just put the sweatshirt on. Okay? Make this one thing easy on yourself."

-----

Lonnie shivered against the air-conditioning in Leon's car, drawing her legs up closer to her chest and realizing the mistake in the movement. She was sitting in the passenger seat on a towel, wearing only her bathing suit bottoms and Leon's hoodie. Needless to say, with the air blasting, she was freezing. She drew in a shaky breath, gripping the sleeves of the hoodie tighter around her knees.

Suddenly a hand flickered out and shut of the fan and the windows rolled down. "Why didn't you tell me you were cold?"

Her head dropped back to the headrest and she glanced at him lazily, her eyes closing slowly. "I don't know."

"You tired?"

Lonnie opened her eyes slightly and smiled at him. "Maybe."

"You can take a nap if you want. We still got a while before we get to the house. I'll wake you up."

"Okay." She shut her eyes then, slipping lower on the seat and pulling the hood up over her hair. "Let me know when we get there," she mumbled before slipping away.

The next time she opened her eyes, Lonnie found herself under a set of heavy blankets, a pillow under her head and a soft mattress holding her off the floor. She moaned, pulling the blankets up higher to rest just below her chin and turned her face into the pillow, breathing in the scent. Leon. This must've been his room.

Slowly, she reached her arms over her head and stretched her body out, wondering what time it was. And in what part of the house was she? It was unusually quiet and dark in his room. "Hello?" she called out tentatively, shaking her head at her own stupidity. Who the hell would be in the room with her? Maybe the bogey monster? Then she felt the body next to her shift and heard the sleepy moan. Uh-oh. "Hello?"

The soft light that came on next hurt her eyes and she squinted, looking away. "You're awake?" Leon asked groggily from beside her.

She shifted a little to her side, away from him, and let her eyes adjust to the light. "Yeah. How long have I been out?"

He moved, his arm grazing her side as he brought his wrist up to look at his watch. "Two hours. Mia must have dinner ready by now." 

"Okay." Lifting her head up, Lonnie looked around for her clothing, or maybe even her bag, but couldn't find either. "Where's all my stuff?"

"Your clothes are in the drier down the hall. Your bag is in the living room."

"Oh, so how am I supposed to get my clothes? I can't walk around the house in your sweatshirt and my bikini bottoms."

"I don't know about that. The guys might like that. I mean, I know I would."

Lonnie shook her head and backhanded him in the chest. "Perve."

"You can borrow a pair of my pants."

"You got a belt or something?"

"Of course."

"Good." She reached her arms up once more, palms against the wall above her head, and stretched, moaning loudly. "So you went to sleep too?"

"Yeah. I carried you down here and dropped you on the bed." They turned towards each other. "You just looked so comfortable, I thought I'd join you."

"Hmm.."

"Sleep good?"

Lonnie smiled, nodding. "Yes, I slept well," she corrected, shaking her head slightly. "You mind finding me some pants please?"

His hand went to her waist. "I don't know. I think I kinda like you being half-naked in my bed."

She sobered up at the comment, trying not to smile the way she wanted to. "I told you. One-time offer. Now get me the pants or I'll find them myself."

"Easy, killer," he replied, climbing over her to get off the bed. He stopped briefly just above her, smiling before leaning down close to her face. Lonnie watched him lick his lips and drew in a shaky breath. "You sure you want to get dressed?"

The thought of the two of them staying in bed and getting reacquainted passed through her mind, made her smile for a second. But then she thought of checking her phone and hoped that no one had called. "We really should go join the rest of your friends."

The look of disappointment that crossed his face was priceless. Yeah, now they were even and payback was a bitch. "Yeah. You're right."

"Come on, Chief-"

He sighed and she smiled. "All right. They're in the middle drawer," he told her, rolling back onto the bed and pointing to his dresser on the opposite side of the room.

She pushed the covers back and stood from the bed, pulling his sweatshirt down further as she walked. "You lazy ass."

"No, I just enjoy looking at your ass," he corrected and she could hear the chuckle in his voice.

Without responding to his comment, Lonnie walked over to the dresser and opened the drawer, pulling out a pair of sweatpants. The second they rested on her hips, they fell down. "Cute," she mumbled, casting a quick glance towards Leon. He was lying on the bed, his head propped up by his hand, a shit-eating grin on his face. Quickly, she grabbed the pants before they reached the floor and tied the drawstring around her waist before rolling the waistline up to make them a little tighter. 

"They look good on you," Lonnie heard him say, along with the rustling of bed sheets.

She hitched the sweats up higher. "How do you wear these?"

"I usually don't." Arms wrapped around her waist and she was pulled back against something solid. Leon rested his chin on her right shoulder, squeezing her playfully. "But you look amazing in them."

"I'm sure you say that to all the-"

"Is anyone alive in here?" A voice asked followed by the bedroom door being thrown open. "Oh good, they live," Vince said, popping his head into the room. "Oh, and they're gettin' on. You go, boy."

Lonnie stiffened at his words. "Vince," she started, vehemence dripping for her words, "Leon is the only one keepin' you alive right now, bro. So I suggest you fuckin' watch what you say, and get the fuck out."

He looked at her in false pain. "That hurts, gorgeous. Really it does." 

"V!" Leon snapped, tightening his grip ever so slightly. "Just go."

The other man held his hands up in mock surrender. "I can take a hint. I know when I'm not wanted."

"I'm gonna hurt him someday," Lonnie said the second the door was closed.

"Don't mind him. He's not used to having someone so willing to fight back. Usually everyone just ignores him," Leon explained. "Unfortunately, the more you let him get you mad, the more he's gonna do it."

"So basically what you're saying is: ignore him and he'll go away?"

"Proven to work."

"I'll try."

"That's my girl."

"Don't go getting' ahead of yourself," she said, moving briskly from the circle of his arms and out of the room.

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Okay guys, that's only part one of chapter 4...and seeing as chapter 4 is taking a long time to rewrite... I'll give you that much to read for now. Any comments or questions, feel free to either drop me a line or leave it in a review.

~Litl A~


	5. Chapter Four B

Chapter Four

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His jaw dropped as she sauntered out of his room and he sighed in frustration. This hot and cold shit was starting to drive him insane. First she wants him, then she doesn't. Then the two of them are hooking up in the middle of the ocean, then she's shutting him down in his own bedroom. What the hell was that all about? Leon ran a hand over his head and turned to the door, more than ready to be out of that room and in the main part of the house, with the rest of his team. But first he ran to the end of the hall and pulled Lonnie's jeans and T-shirt from the drier, folding them up and dropping the pile on his bed before jogging up the basement stairs to the kitchen.

"Hey, Leon," Mia said the second he entered the room. "You two are just in time for dinner." She smiled over at him before grabbing something out of the refrigerator. Almost imperceptibly, she added, "I'm sorry V's being such a dick. But you know how he is around new people."

Leon returned her smile and kissed her on the cheek. "Not your fault, sweetie. He's just a dick."

"You better get a shirt on before the rest of the team sees you. It's bad enough V told everyone the two of you were...you know?"

"Yeah. I'll be right back." He was in his room, grabbing a shirt, and back in the kitchen in a flash, pulling it on as he spoke to Mia. "So, how's things with you and B going?"

She smiled widely at him, dropping the salad bowl that she grabbed from the refrigerator onto the counter. "Everything's great."

"That's good." He grabbed the door before the refrigerator could close and pulled out a beer, popping the top and taking a swig.

"He wants me to meet his parents."

The Corona nearly spilled from his lips on that one. "He what?" The refrigerator slammed shut and he frowned at the woman in front of him.

"Wants me to meet his parents. Of course, that means we'd have to go to Arizona for the weekend, but I mean that's good right?" Sometimes he hated it when she did this to him. He enjoyed being her friend and all, but sometimes the things she asked bordered on girl talk.

"Yeah, I guess. I mean, it took me six months to introduce Lonnie to my dad, and I had to be serious about her in order to do that." No, he never took any of his girlfriends to meet his father, none except Lonnie. It was like a test, if she were as serious about him as he was for her, she would do her best to deal with his father. Now, Papa DePascale wasn't that hard to deal with, he was a nice guy, when he wasn't trying to be a drill sergeant. There were just some quirks about him that Leon quickly learned – at the age of fourteen – which girls didn't like all that much. But Lonnie had dealt with him, and didn't even complain afterwards.

"Why?"

"My dad's a little eccentric," he told, taking another sip of the beer. 

"That's putting it mildly," a voice behind him said, accompanied by hands wrapping around his waist. "He had a few quirks."

Mia frowned slightly, turning to the counter and going to work on the salad. "So what did he do?"

"He was very meticulous about everything," Lonnie answered, kissing the back of his neck before walking around him.

"You never complained about him before," Leon protested, grabbing her hips and pulling her back against him. Might as well take advantage of her good humor while he had the chance, right?

"There's nothing to complain about," she responded, looking over her shoulder at him. "He had a few quirks, so does everyone else." Suddenly her face became sad and he watched as she focused on the floor. "I liked your dad."

Leon nodded even though he knew she couldn't see him and tightened his grip slightly. "He liked you, too. I'm sure he'd love to see you, you know. Never stopped talking about you."

Lonnie awarded him with a small smile. "Excuse me, you two, didn't mean to interrupt your conversation."

Mia turned around and shook her head. "You didn't interrupt anything."

"Okay, but I'm going to go make a phone call." Lonnie moved out of his reach and walked out the back door onto the small porch outside.

"She's nice."

Leon looked at Mia, an eyebrow raised. "And what does that mean, Miss Mia?"

"You two are cute together." She seemed to think about something for a second before looking at him in confusion. "Where was she? You two went out for a while, right?"

He moved, leaning against the counter next to her. "She went to prison a few years back."

"For what?" Mia asked quietly.

"Lot o' stuff."

"Oh...Were you two serious?"

He thought about his answer for a second, glancing down at the floor and trying to decide whether or not to tell her. Hey, they were talking serious "big people" talk, weren't they? "Yeah, I was gonna ask her to marry me."

She gasped beside him, her hand going to her heart they way women do when they watch a sad movie. "Aw, that's so sweet. What happened?"

"She went to prison." Did she miss that part or something?"

"Right."

"_Do we know anything about him_?" Lonnie's voice filtered in from the screen in the back door. "_Christ, Sans, what _do_ we know_?" She sighed. 

"Where's Dom?" Leon asked Mia, trying to keep from hearing Lonnie's conversation, knowing that the guy from the gym was on the other end. For some reason, he just didn't believe that he was just her "parole officer."

"_No, I don't know when I'm going home...What the hell does it matter_?" Another sigh. _"I know that they're watching me... What the fuck does that mean_?" A grunt this time. Didn't appear as though she was enjoying this conversation. 

"He and Letty went on a beer run," Mia answered, busying herself by tossing the salad once more. 

"_Fuck you, "old habits die hard." What the hell is that shit? Should we even go into what you did_?" Something mumbled under her breath. Now he was straining to hear what was said. What did this man do? "_I'll be in in the morning...no, then we'll talk...no, _then_ we'll talk...Maybe you didn't hear me correctly, we'll talk in the _morning." Was that a growl?

"Beer run?" he asked as it went quiet for a second. 

"Yeah, they thought we were running a little low. Besides you know how V and Dom get on Sundays."

"_What is your fucking problem_? _I don't care. What the hell are they going to do to me_?" Who were "they?"

"Yeah, they drink like fish. When did the lovebirds leave?"

"Ten minutes or so."

This time, Lonnie gave a sigh of resignation; sometimes he was able to differentiate her sighs. "_Fine...I said fine...Why are you doing this_?" A pause. "_James, they can't not let me see him...fuck you, you know where I'm coming from here..._" Leon froze, the bottle half raised to his lips. "_Come on, man...Jimmy, work with me here..._Please?"

"They should be back any minute now," Mia added softly, but he barely heard her as he strained to her Lonnie plead with the man on the phone.

"_Don't do this to me. Not now, okay_?" There were tears in her voice, he could tell. Motioning for Mia to stay quiet, Leon inched his way towards the door, just in time to hear her whisper: "_Don't you _dare_ pull rank on me._" Rank? "_What the hell do you want me to tell them? My CO doesn't want me to hang around them anymore? That'll go over well._" What the hell was that all about? "_I'll be over there first thing in the morning...Fine, you can pick me up for all I care...Yeah...Later._" A heavy sigh, then silence.

"Any minute, huh?" he asked, trying to make it sound as if he hadn't been listening in. As if on cue, the front door opened and Dom came waltzing into the kitchen, a case of Coronas under his arm.

"Leon, back me up here, man," the other man said, dropping the box on the kitchen counter. 

"What's the debate?" he asked, jumping and turning guiltily from the screen door.

"Nicer tits," Letty said simply, pulling out a chair and straddling it. "Angelina Jolie as "Lara Croft" or Pamela Anderson as "Barb Wire?""

"Totally Angelina Jolie," he answered, downing the rest of his beer. "No contest."

"Thank you."

"Nah, man," Dom said, opening the refrigerator and shoving some beer bottles on the shelf. "Anderson's always had the nicer tits."

"Yeah, if you go for the fake ones."

Leon smiled as the two of them took up arguing the topic once more, moving out of the room. "It's good to know those two will never grow up," he said, smiling over at Mia.

"Yeah, they're perfect for each other."

"Wonder when those two are gonna get hitched."

"God, Leon, could you have sounded any more like a redneck?" she asked, turning towards him and leaning against the counter.

"Probably."

"Well don't try."

He faked a hurt expression. "Yes, ma'am." The silence from outside unnerved him a little. Leon shrugged his shoulders at Mia and motioned with his head to the back door. She nodded, apparently getting the message, and smiled encouragingly. "I'm gonna go see what's up."

"Hey, Leon," she called as he opened the back door.

"Yeah?"

"Just be careful with yourself."

"I will." Then he was outside, squinting against the setting sun, and looking at an empty porch. Where'd she disappear to? He glanced around the back yard, frowning when Lonnie was no where in sight. "Lonnie?" he called, walking down the steps and around to the side of the house.

"_Fuck, Lena, I don't know what to do_." Yeah, that was her voice. Who was she talking to now?

Leon walked around the corner to find Lonnie sitting on the ground against the house, one hand supporting her head above her knee and the other holding her cell phone to her ear on the other side. He stayed quiet, not sure what to say.

"No, it's not like the temptations there...I mean yeah, they know about that one...but I got the go ahead on that." Again with the "they." "I don't see the problem with me being with Leon again...I don't know...Sanford was being a dick...yeah, _again_." Sanford?

"Lonnie?" he said, making his presence known. She startled slightly before jerking her head around in his direction, her cheeks glistened slightly from tears. "You okay?"

With a nod and a small smile, she held up a finger and spoke into her phone. "Lena, let me call you back later... Yeah, someone just walked over... Talk to you later." When she hung up with the person on the other line, Lonnie glanced up at him once more, smiling slightly. "Hey'a."

Leon raised an eyebrow and sat next to her, leaning his back against the house. "You all right?"

Her smile was forced as she shrugged her shoulders. "Of course. Why?"

"You don't look like it." She shrugged her shoulders again, looking away from him. "Who was on the phone?"

"That was Lena, she works with me."

"I meant before."

"Oh." He couldn't help himself; reflexively Leon reached over and wiped a stray tear from her cheek. "That was…uh-"

"Your parole officer?"

"Yeah."

"Everything all right?"

"You already asked that."

He shrugged in response before reaching out and laying his arm across her shoulders. "Yeah, but you don't look okay." He pulled her closer against his side. "What he say that made you so upset?"

"Don't worry about it."

"Well I do." Lonnie looked over at him, opening her mouth to say something, but he cut her off. "He obviously deserves a beat down if he's making you cry."

"I can take care of myself."

Hoping to lighten the mood a little, he grinned impishly at her. "Yeah, but you know I like to take care of you."

"You're sweet," she said, causing his smile to widen. "You're going to make a great mother someday." His smile fell. That wasn't what he was going for.

"That ain't right." Lonnie started laughing and moved herself closer to his side. "No, seriously, that ain't even funny."

She continued laughing, one hand reaching out to pat his leg. "It's okay, baby, I still love yo-" They both stopped what they were doing and turned towards each other. "I don't mean that."

He swallowed hard, trying to keep his face impassive and not let her know how much that hurt. "No?" Was that his voice cracking?

Her brow furrowed slightly. "Yes?"

"Yes?"

"No." His turn to frown. "I mean...yes?"

"Which one is it?"

Lonnie smiled weakly at him, moving slightly from his side. "I'll take the slightly less confusing change of subject please." She pulled away from him, her body shifting a foot or so towards the front of the house. "I'm gonna go see if Mia needs any help in the kitchen."

He stopped her before she stood up, keeping his grip firm on her wrist. "Don't walk away from this." She stood and tried to take her wrist from his hand, but he wouldn't allow it, standing with her instead. "I think we need to have a little talk."

"Can we hold off a little bit?" That weak smile again. "We can talk about it later. When we don't have to meet your friends for dinner."

"My friends are two steps away. It's not like we'll be late for anything, so don't even try to pull that one."

Lonnie took a step back, leveling him with a glare that could possibly scare Dom if she tried hard enough, and arched an eyebrow his way. "Do you really want to have the "us" conversation now?" He opened his mouth to protest, but she silenced him by raising her free hand. "Because if I remember correctly, we were already fucking for a year before you decided it was finally time to have that chat."

He frowned at that comment, trying to think back a few years. Was that true? Had they been together for over a year before he was able to have _the_ talk? It wasn't unheard of for couples to take a while before they even thought of verbally committing to one another. Sometimes it was enough for the couple to _know_ that they were exclusive. He had thought, back then, that that was not something she would have wanted to do, but still he held out. Now, here they were, three years after separation and she wanted to put off _the_ talk? He was never going to understand women.

Instead of voicing that concern, he raised an eyebrow in return. "Where'd you get that mouth?"

"Let's just hold off, okay?"

"Yeah, sure."

She finally smiled for real before glancing down at her wrist, still in his hand. "Can we go in now?"

He knew that he probably should have pressed the subject more, find out what the guy had said to make her upset. Try to see what she really meant to say. But he knew that would be like trying to draw blood from a stone. Not happening. Instead, he just nodded, loosening his grip ever so slightly, while pulling her closer at the same time.

"First thing's first."

Lonnie raised bother her eyebrows and smirked at him. "What's that?"

"A, uh, "good evening" kiss."

"Good evening kiss, huh?"

"Yup."

"And why's that?"

"So we'll have a good evening."

She moved a little closer and he felt her hand come to rest on his hip. "Can't argue with that kind of logic."

Leon shook his head, keeping a serious face as he let go of her wrist and cupped her face in both hands. "No, we can't," he said just before his dropped his lips to hers. He smiled against her mouth, unconsciously slipping his tongue across her bottom lip. She seemed startled for a seconded, but responded by opening her mouth to him and drawing him in, deepening the kiss. He pulled her closer, moving his hand from her cheek to the nape of her neck, wrapping his fingers in her hair.

Behind him, someone cleared his throat and Leon growled as he pulled back, turning to glare at his soon-to-be dead friend. "Mia said dinner's ready, bro," Brian told them, holding his hands up defensively.

"Thank you, Brian," Lonnie answered, a smile in her voice. "We'll be right in."

As Brian walked away, Leon looked back at her, dropping his forehead to hers. "I hate them."

She smiled at him, reaching down and grabbing his hand. "We need to lock ourselves away from your friends," she said, pulling him towards the back door.

"True that."

-----

She growled as her phone vibrated against her hip, scaring her for a second as it jarred her from a conversation. Imperceptibly, she reached down to turn the ringer off while smiling at the rest of the table, hoping that no one would think her rude. "Excuse me, guys," Lonnie said, pushing her seat back and standing from the table, all the while smiling sheepishly at everyone. Whoever was calling her was in serious need of a beat down.

Lonnie left the room, hoping that no one would follow, and entered the living room, out of earshot, so she hoped. Quickly she brought the phone to her ear, forgetting once more to glance at the ID screen, shocked when she heard the voice on the other end: "I have a slight problem."

"Lena." Aside from her initial anger, she couldn't help a relieved sigh. "Now's not really the best time."

"See," her friend continued, her voice chipper, "I have this friend who's over living it up on the coast while I'm freezing my ass off up north."

"Girl, I'm telling y-" Lonnie started pacing the second the other woman cut her off.

"And I'm not sure how to tell her that I'm getting reassigned."

"Look..." She froze, her eyebrows raising as she tried to decide whether or not she heard correctly. "Wait, what?"

"That's right, babe. _Aloha_, Los Angeles."

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"When?" Her voice rose a pitch and she cringed, lowering it. "When?"

"Sometime this week. They're trying to set me up with some space before they send me over."

Movement to her left caught her attention, causing Lonnie to turn and see Dominic leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. "That's awesome, Len," she continued without skipping a beat. "Wait, I got room up at my dorm." She waved at Dom, trying to communicate to him that she'd like to have some privacy. "I can talk to the big guys. Or at least _Mister_ Myles."

Captain Myles was her caseworker. Or actually the caseworker to the Los Angeles agents, the man that had set her up with the job. After she came back from the Farm he was the man that she reported to. Well, she reported to him directly, there were others that were above him. Some of which she did not like one bit.

"That'd be cool. The two of us, together again."

Dom raised an expectant eyebrow, taping his foot impatiently, and Lonnie took the hint, realizing that she had lost. With a reluctant sigh, she nodded and spoke to her friend: "Well, listen, girlie, I'm in the middle of dinner with some friends, so I'll call you tomorrow?"

"Leon?"

"Yeah."

"He good looking?"

A quick glance at Dom made her decide to cut it short. "Yeah."

"Someone's standing right there, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Okay. Bye."

"_Aloha_."

She flipped the phone shut and smiled sweetly at the man that she had turned her back to seconds ago. "Yeah, yeah. I get it. No walking away from the table." She moved past hit to the doorway, pausing to raise an eyebrow at him. "Is there some kind of problem?"

"We heard your scream."

"Oh." A shrug. "A friend of mine is coming back here. Happy scream."

"Oh."

Lonnie left him standing there and took her spot next to Leon at the table, dropping her hand to his thigh in the process. "Hope you didn't miss me too much," she whispered, grinning as she turned his head and kissed her.

"Oh, please. I'm gonna get a cavity from all this sugar." Vince groaned from across the table, rubbing a hand across the table. "Why don't you two go get a room?"

She pulled back from Leon slowly, smiling at him before turning to Vince. "Was'a matter, Vince? Feeling left out?" She grinned at his confused look, trying not to laugh. "As fun and interesting as it may be, I don't think Leon would be into that," was her response as she ran a feather-light hand up and down Leon's inner thigh.

Vince frowned as if he had no idea what she was talking about while Mia gave a short, embarrassed giggle, and Letty let out a harsh laugh. "What the hell are you tal-"

"Yo, D, didn't you say you wanted to hit the club tonight?" Leon asked quickly, cutting his friend off and slapping Lonnie's hand away at the same time. Dom, in turn, raised an eyebrow as he frowned.

"Nah, Lee," the man answered, glancing down at his watch. "It's too late for that, plus tomorrow everyone's gotta work. Maybe next week." He took his seat at the head of the table, daring anyone to contradict him.

"Yeah, maybe you're right, dawg. Don't know what I was thinking." Lonnie knew exactly what he was thinking. He was doing his best to change the subject before she pissed Vince off, before she started having too much fun.

Letty caught Lonnie's eye and the two of them leaned in towards each other. "Who was on the phone?"

"This girl, Lena. She works upstate, like Washington upstate, but she's getting transferred down to my division." She tried not to cringe the second "division" left her mouth. That was great, why not just send out a memo that she worked for the government.

"That's cool. The two of you friends?"

"We've been in contact with each other for a while. Met up once or twice," give or take a hundred, "and she'll be rooming with me. So we kind of gotta be friends."

Dom cleared his throat, his overall personality demanding the attention of everyone at the table. "I think that being it's going to be an early night, ladies and, ah hem, gentlemen," he smirked slightly at all of them, "I think we should just stay in and watch some movies." When no one made a sound to protest, he turned to Lonnie: "Will you be joining us?"

Lonnie was in the middle of chewing some turkey when everyone turned to her, eyebrows raised. She licked her lips, swallowing the food in her mouth and looking at the group around her. "I don't see why n-"

Her words were cut off when something hit the front door, or someone hit the front door. The sound made everyone at the table jump and turn to each other in confusion. Obviously no one was expecting anyone, especially not her, considering no one knew where she was. But the fact that all the people at the table seemed almost reluctant to answer the door was a little unnerving.

"Is anyone going to get that?" They looked to Dom, as if asking permission, or anonymously choosing him to do it. But he didn't move. No one did. She stood. "I'll do it."

"No," Letty said, pushing back from the table. "I'll do it." With an accusative glance at Dom, that whole table was able to see, she left the room and answered the door. "_What do _you_ want?"_

"Is Toretto here?" a decidedly male voice asked.

__

"No." Just like that, "no." Although Lonnie did not know Letty that well, she could hear the tenseness in the woman's voice, something she was trained to pick up. _"Wanna leave a message?"_

"Isn't that his car out there?"

"No." Lonnie looked over at Dom whose eyes were wide with panic and he seemed to have stopped breathing. _"You should leave then."_ She glanced at Leon, then to Vince and Jesse, finding each face surrounding the table in a similar form. Well, all except Brian, who appeared just as lost as she was.

__

"I'll wait."

"That's not possible."

"It's quite possible."

"I'll call the cops." That was it. Lonnie frowned at everyone before leaving her seat and walking towards Letty's voice. The woman stood firm at the front of the house, the door opened only enough for her to see the man on the outside. "Now, I suggest you leave." She looked down quickly, then back at the man. "What the fuck is that for?"

"Get Toretto." The door was pushed forward and Letty raised her hands slowly to about shoulder height. "Now." The man, his face riddled with scars, moved into the house, pushing Letty back with a gun pointed to her forehead. "Don't test me."

"Dom," she called out, her voice a little shaky.

Lonnie took a step forward, fully prepared to take control of the situation, but stopped short the second the pistol was aimed on her. "Don't try it little girl." He jerked his head towards Letty. "Over there, hands were I can see them."

Now, had she been anywhere else, with anyone else, Lonnie probably would have taken the chance and tried to take the man out. But seeing as he had Letty in his sights, she wasn't about to put the woman in any more danger. So instead, she raised her hands slowly, the way she made hostiles raise there own, and walked to stand next to her friend.

"Linder." The voice was deep and rough, as if Dom had swallowed glass and had to force himself to speak. 

The focus was off of Letty and herself in a heartbeat as the man quickly shifted to level his gun at Dom. "Toretto."

"What the fuck are you doing here?" The man took a step towards him. "What the fuck is that for?"

"You ruined my life, I ruin yours." Now, she had no idea what the hell had happened to this man, or actually what the hell Dom had done to this man, but she wasn't about to let anything happen now. Quickly she brought her hands down and pushed Letty to the side, getting the man's attention. He jerked around, training the gun on her. "Where the hell do you think you're going, girlie?"

That's when Dom made his move, knocking the man to the ground. "What the fuck is wrong with you, Linder?" he asked as the two struggled for power over the gun. 

"You ruined my life!" The gun fell from the man's hands and skittered across the floor. Silence descended upon the room as everyone followed the progress of the weapon. Right to her feet.

Lonnie looked down with wide eyes, then back at the two on the floor, and finally resting her eyes back on the gun at her feet. Once again, everyone was focused on her. If she did nothing, the man would probably get the gun again; but if she grabbed it, her actions would probably seem very shady to the others. But the others were in danger no matter what. Movement from the two men on the floor fueled her into action. Reflex kicked in and she grabbed the gun, aiming it at the fighters. Adrenaline coursed through her veins, causing her to shake somewhat as the man looked at her. 

"Gimme the gun, little girl," he ordered, his scared face contorting in anger. "Give it to me before you hurt yourself."

"Don't listen to him, Lonnie," Dom responded calmly. 

She cleared her throat, sending her eyes around the room to take stock of everyone's situation. The rest of the guys, plus Mia, were standing off to the side, right near the entrance to the kitchen. Letty was on the couch where Lonnie had pushed her, her eyes wide and jaw dropped. Everyone seemed to mistake her shaking as fear. Her own eyes came to rest on the man with the scars.

"You. I don't know who you are. But you're leaving. _Now_," she gave her own orders calmly. Dom moved slowly, getting off the man and standing up.

Scarface stood gracefully, moving deliberately slow, coming closer. "You don't even know how to use that thing."

It took her a second to realize that the safety was on and with a shaky smug smile, she cocked the pistol, stopping him in his tracks. "Last chance. Don't underestimate me again," she warned, her voice deathly calm.

Someone in the room took in a sharp breath, more than likely Mia, but either way it sent Dom into action. "Gimme the gun now, Lonnie. It's okay."

But she never heard him. Not now, not with all the adrenaline, the rush of having a gun in her hand. Her body shook slightly as she lifted her chin defiantly. "Leave. _Now,_" she said to the man, ignoring everyone's pleas to hand the gun over to Dom. They had no idea who they were talking to, did that? "And never come back." He raised his hands slowly, a smile on his hideous face. "Walk slowly backwards." He did. "Two steps to the right." She continued giving directions, following him as he walked backwards out of the house and down the porch, stopping only when she hit the bottom of the steps, gun still trained on the center of his chest. "Now run. You have twenty seconds to get out of my sights. One. Two."

"What about my gun?" He just didn't give up, did he? Damn but he was a smug piece of shit.

"Consider your _life_ as payment." Then she continued counting. "Six. Seven." He asked no more questions. Made no more statements. Simply took off down the street without looking back, leaving her to muse over why no one ever stayed till twenty.

Hands grabbed her, one rested on her hip, while the other moved to her own hand and pulled her arm down gently before relieving her of the weight of the gun. "It's okay, Lonnie," Leon said softly, speaking into the hair at her neck.

If her body had been shaking before, it was convulsing down, her chest heaving heavily as the realization dawned on her. She could have just seriously blown her cover. Hyperventilating came next; followed by weak knees that nearly dropped her to the cement, had Leon not been there to guide her down slowly, cushioning her fall. She gripped blindly at the hands holding her waist as the tears formed in the corners of her eyes. What the hell was wrong with her?

Normally, she was able to handle these kinds of situations without a second thought. Without having a nervous breakdown in the aftermath. Was is because Letty had been in danger? Or Dom? Or by some off chance Leon and Jesse? 

Whatever it was, she did not like it at all.

But Leon was right there with her, holding her against his chest and whispering softly to her, while smoothing her hair. A soothing gesture that her mother, had she ever the chance to remember the woman, probably would have done. "It's okay, Lonnie. It's over. You're all right. I promise." 

Suddenly a second dose of adrenaline hit and she pushed away from him, turning on the group that stood on the porch. Focusing on Dominic Toretto. "_You_. What is it about you that makes people so crazy?" She frowned, as did he. "First the surfers attack me for your autograph. Now some gun-wielding maniac with a fucked-up face tries to attack _everyone_, ranting about how you ruined his life. Who are you?"

Leon stood up and reached for her, trying to calm her. "Lonnie-"

But once again she was in that zone, slapping his hands away and moving back. No one was going to get to her unless they started talking. "Who the hell are you people? And what have you gotten me into?" They were quiet after that, no one making eye contact with her except Dom, who still remained silent. "Someone fucking answer me."

"Let's take this inside," the man finally replied, his voice gravely and deep once more. He motioned for everyone to proceed him, opening the door for them. They did, each and every one filed into the house slowly, Lonnie staying rooted for a few more seconds before following them inside. Dom closed the door and looked around solemnly. "Let's all just sit down."

"I'd rather sta-" Once look from him had her dropping to the floor. "Fine."

"The surfers I can explain easily," he started, rubbing a hand over his shaved head. "We street race and I'm the man to beat." She nodded, filing that little bit of information for later usage. "Now, Linder is a little more of a sore spot." He sat down on the couch next to Letty, meeting Lonnie's gaze. "I don't want to talk about him."

She clenched her teeth, the muscles along her jaw working in opposition, appearing to twitch on the outside of her skin. "I just threatened that man with a gun," she told the room, keeping her voice low and calm, "a serious violation of my parole. Fucking humor me."

"He killed my father. I busted his face with a wrench." Just like that. Short and simple. Quick and to the point. "That's it." Lonnie nodded, looking down at her hands as she shifted from anger to feeling like shit.

"I'm sorry." She sighed and tried to process what was said. Nodding to herself once more she stood and walked into the kitchen, clearing off the table. She felt worse than shit now. Not only had she come close to blowing everything out of the water, but she also made Dom admit something that was obviously very upsetting. That was stupid. Of course it was upsetting. "Way to go, Lon," she mumbled to herself, dropping dishes into the sink and turning back to the table. 

Mia was standing in the doorway, a small smile on her face. "Don't worry about hurting his feelings."

She nodded, grabbing the plate of turkey and placing it on the stovetop. "I'm sorry. I didn't know. And I feel like a complete idiot."

The other woman came closer and stood next to her, leaning against the counter top. "Never mind that. Look-"

"You all right?" The question and the voice made the both of them jump, snapping their attention to the doorway. Letty had entered the kitchen and was now leaning against the table opposite the two. "Thanks, by the way."

"I'm fine." Lonnie let her eyes pass around the room, trying to get a feel for everyone's mood. "Are you two okay?"

"I'm dealing with the fact that I had a gun in my face." Letty shrugged. "But what you did-"

"Please-" She was fully intent on having the two of them drop the subject.

But Mia interrupted her, finishing Letty's statement: "Was amazing. Dom and the guys are the only one's that have ever even touched a gun. They won't let us anywhere near them."

Before trying to wrap her mind around the fact that Leon had had any contact with a gun, she shrugged her shoulders and started washing the dishes. "I don't like guns," she replied dully. "I did what I did, because if I didn't, then that man would have gotten it." The other two nodded in unknowing sympathy, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless. They couldn't possibly have any idea what she had gone through, but she was not about to shed a little light on to that situation.

The three of them went to work then, cleaning the dishes, drying them, and putting them away. Making short work of a job that would probably have taken Mia an hour or so to do on her own. By the time they were done the three of them were joking and fooling around, laughing as if a gun-wielding psycho hadn't just tried to take them out. Nothing mattered at that moment, nothing but the three of them splashing dirty water at each other and making way too much noise. Noise that was all too soon silenced when the guys walked in.

"It's official," Vince said, leaning aback against the doorframe. "You three are not allowed to hang around each other anymore.

"We've decided on a movie," Dom told them, reaching a hand out that was grasped quickly by Letty. "So we thought that you three would like to join us."

Lonnie frowned at the idea of spending the night surrounded by everyone that had just seen her break down. It was bound to be a very uncomfortable situation, if not for them, then definitely for her. "Sorry guys," she said with a sad smiled. "But I'm about to crash."

"Want me to bring you back to the dorm?" Leon asked, stepping out of the group.

She shook her head and shoved her hands into the pockets of his sweats. "Nah, I'd rather just crash in your room, if that's all right with you. I kind of just...you know." Everyone seemed to understand and left the two of them alone. "I know my way down. Go watch the movie with your friends."

He took a step back towards the living room. "You sure?"

This time her smile was sincere as she started off down the basement steps. "Yeah. Go have fun. I'm just going to sleep anyway."

"Guys, start without me," she heard him call just seconds before he pounded down the stairs behind her. "Nah, they can deal. Now, you," he said, opening his door, "I would like to spend some time with. Make sure you're okay."

Ducking her head to hide the satisfied smile that crossed her face, she entered the room, walking straight to the center of the room. "I'm fine," Lonnie told him as he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, after closing the door. "Promise."

"You were shaking like crazy," Leon told her, his voice low.

"Adrenaline. I was coming off it."

"Scared the shit out of me."

"Scared the shit out of _me_." He squeezed her hips in response, kissing the top of her head. "Now, unless you plan on turning into a bed, I suggest you walk us over there so that I can get some sleep."

Leon laughed and led them over to the bed, dropping on to it before shuffling over towards the wall. He patted the space next to him, scooting down further to lay down as Lonnie lay next to him on top of the covers, dropping her cell phone on the night table. They stayed like that for a while, each lying stiffly on their backs, staring at the ceiling. After a while, she moved closer, curling up against his side and sighing contentedly when he slipped his arm around her back and pulled her closer. She missed this.

"You know what?" he asked, shifting a little, moving closer. "You never gave me a phone number. We've only met by chance the past three days."

She smiled, lifting her head to rest it on his chest and turning on her side. "I'll give it to you later. Before I leave tomorrow."

"Leave it on the night table along with a wad of cash for services rendered."

"Don't joke like that," she said sternly, pulling back a little. He shrugged his shoulders in response and raised an eyebrow as if to ask "why not?" Lonnie sat up, a faux hurt look on her face. She wanted him to think that joking like that upset her. "Because I _definitely_ did not get my money's worth."

He sat up with her. "No, huh?"

"Nope."

"Well then, maybe we should fix that."

"Maybe."

Leon leaned forward, kissing her as he lowered her back to the bed. "I'm sure I can think of something."

"You sure you can handle that?"

"I can manage."

"Sounds like a plan then." She wasn't surprised when the two of them fell into a flurry of kisses and roaming hands. Wasn't surprised when Leon wound up completely on top of her. Wasn't surprised when the two of them started undressing each other, both shirts landing in a heap on the floor. She was, however, surprised when he stopped her hands as they went to work on the fly of his jeans. "What's wrong?" she asked breathy, breathing heavy from their previous kiss.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, pulling back far enough to support himself on his elbows.

They were back to that again? "Don't you?" She all ready knew the answer to that question, it was quite evident from the bulge in his pants.

"I think it's fairly obvious that I do," he told her, pulling back even further this time, sitting back on his heels. She watched as he repositioned himself and fastened the button. "But I don't want to rush this. I told you that already."

Lonnie backpedaled up the bed to sit against the wall at the head, folding her arms over her bare chest to cover herself the best she could, but to little avail. "Right," she said, nodding as if she agreed. Looking around, she saw her clothing – thankfully dry – sitting on the floor by the foot of his bed. She shook her head at herself as she moved to grab the T-shirt from the floor, one arm still fruitlessly trying to cover her chest.

Wasn't he the one that had said he would not turn her down a second time?

That thought made her cringe as she started pulling her arms through the short sleeves. Shot down again. How embarrassing was that? She was starting to think that it might have been better if she just allowed him to take her back to the dorm.

Before she was able to pull the shirt completely over her head, however, he stopped her, making sure that the shirt still offered little privacy. "But for some reason, you don't seem to be happy with that answer," he said, leaning forward to look into her eyes.

Now was the time for _that_ talk, wasn't it? "I don't think we're rushing if we're both in total agreement on this. I thought you would understand that."

"I told you a long time ago that I didn't want you to regret anything you did with me. That still stands." That had been way over three years ago. There was little she could do now, with him, that she would regret. "I thought that maybe we could discuss a few things, before we did anything."

She frowned at him. "Like what?"

"Like the past three years."

"I spent them in prison, what the fuck could we possibly discuss?"

Leon sighed, running a hand over his head. "Look, tell me right now – and I hate to sound like a chick – but are we an us?"

"I told you before. There don't have to be any strings attached." The look that passed through his eyes did not seem like the type of look that she wanted to see.

"I don't want that."

In frustration, she pulled the shirt over her head, repositioning it over her bare chest, and looked at him. "Then _what_ do you want?"

"Us!"

"Us?"

"Yes."

-----

She sighed. "Like what?"

What was so hard about that for her to understand? He just didn't get it. Was it so hard to understand that he wanted things to go back to the way they were? "Like _us_, Lonnie. You and me. Together."

"So you want strings?"

He couldn't help the growl that passed his lips. What the fuck happened to her in there? Did they make her stupid or something? "I want _everything_ the way it _was_!"

Lonnie held her hands up, patting the air in front of her as if trying to calm him down. "All right, relax. No reason to shout," she said, her voice near a whisper. Leon threw his hands up, let out an exasperated sigh, and stood from the bed, ready to leave. Until she stopped him, rushing past him to lean against the door. "No running away from this, remember that? We sit an' listen."

"Well, obviously, you're not listening."

"No, I get it. You want everything back the way it was." She moved her head a little to look him in the eyes, raising an eyebrow. "Like I want things to be." He couldn't help but give a little shrug in response. "But we can't go back to that, not after all these years."

"Why not?"

She pointed to the bed. "Take a seat and we'll talk."

"I'd rather stand." 

"Take a seat."

He wasn't going to just stand there and play games with her for the rest of the night. Shaking his head in frustration, Leon reached around her for the door handle. "You know what, let's just leave it alone for the night. You said you wanted sleep, right?"

She pushed him then with enough force to send him rocking in the middle of his own room. "I said take a fucking seat."

He held his ground, locking eyes with her as they both crossed their arms over their respective chests. She pushed him? Since when did she start pushing? "I'm waiting then."

"Fine." Lonnie raised an eyebrow. "For one reason, I'm not the girl I used to be. And for another, since I went away, you've added a few more notches to your bed post."

"How the fuck-?" How would she know that? It wasn't as if they had been out at all for anyone to say anything to her. 

"Don't worry about how I know."

Unless someone from the – "Who opened their mouth?"

"Don't worry-" He took a step to the side, trying to get around her to the door once more, but she moved in front of him again. "Relax, Chief, who you gonna kill?

"Whoever opened his big mouth." Whoever that was, they were in for a serious beat down, putting all his shit out in the open like that. What kind of friends were they, doing shit like that to him? It was probably Jesse. He never liked the fact that Leon was seeing Lonnie; even if that was the only reason the two had become friends in the first place.

"Relax," she repeated, pushing him harder this time, hard enough to send him to his back on the bed. There was no use fighting with her on this one anymore, she would eventually win; he could tell just by the look in her eyes. This was a losing battle. "Don't get so worked up about it," Lonnie said as she made her way over to him, her hips swaying from side to side. He had to admit it, she seriously looked good in his clothes. "It's not like I expected you to spend three years in celibacy." She climbed on to the bed, a devilish smile gracing her features as she straddles his hips. "In fact, I expected you to be tied down already."

The second she leaned down to kiss him Leon flipped them over, pinning her to the mattress beneath him. "Tied down? Me? Are you kidding me?"

She ran fingernails down his back, causing him to shiver involuntarily. "Tied down, with little Leon's running around."

"I'm still in my prime. No way, not a chance of me getting married," he told her, conveniently leaving out the ring that he never had the heart to get rid of. That still sat in his dresser drawer. The one that Monica, his former "toy" of sorts, had found one day while she was raiding his clothes.

It was funny to watch the blonde's face light up, thinking that it was for her. He couldn't help but feel bad, however, when he had to explain to her that he wasn't _that_ serious, marriage serious, about her. Now that he thought about it, that was the last time that she ever spoke to him. That was the night that Brian showed up.

Slowly, he leaned down and kissed her, smiling against her mouth when she let out a throaty moan. Leon pulled back smirking. "I think she likes."

"You still want to talk?"

He pulled her shirt back, dropping it to the floor by his bed. "That can wait for later." 

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"A little cocky, aren't we?"

Lonnie raised an eyebrow and shrugged her shoulders beneath him. "What can I say? I spent the last three years without gettin' any."

"Then maybe we shouldn't waste any time."

"Maybe not."

It didn't take long for the two of them to shed the rest of their clothing. For him to reach into the top drawer of his nightstand and pull out a wrapped condom. The rest of the night went by in a haze as they moved against each other, touching, tasting. He couldn't help but let out a low moan as he moved inside her and felt her reactions to him.

And as he lay next to her, spent, his arm draped lazily over her stomach, she lethargically tracing patterns against his skin, he couldn't help but utter those three little words that he had waited three years to say:

"I love you."

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And there you have it, folks. The final part of chapter 4. Sorry it took so long.


	6. Chapter Five

AN: Sorry it has taken so long for me to get this up, guys… I know, it's been like two years at least, but my job hadn't really offered me a lot of time in the past. But I'm working on finishing _Secrets_ as fast as I can so that I can post _Long Time Coming_, a Vince/OFC fic.

So without further ado:

Chapter Five

---------

Lonnie rarely made mistakes in her life, well rarely admitted to them anyway. Keeping that in mind, she absolutely refused to believe that the night she had just spent in Leon's bed was a mistake. Granted, she could have gone about it a completely different way, but hindsight would be great.

She slipped slowly out from under the arm he threw over her stomach. He was sleeping peacefully when she looked back at him, lying on his stomach with one arm thrown over her vacant half of the bed. The face of her watch read five-thirty, giving her half an hour before Jim showed up to pick her up. Moving silently, she pulled on the clothes that he had folded for her before dinner the night before. Using the LCD light on her phone, she wrote him a short note, leaving her number at the bottom, and placing it on the bedside table with a few folded dollar bills. "For services rendered," the note claimed with a smiley face.

Then she snuck out of his room, closing his door with a soft _click_. The basement hall was so quiet she was afraid that her footsteps would wake the house. Stopping in the weight room, she took her time to tie her shoes and run her fingers through her hair to get rid of the pillow hair. Her hands shook as she brought them down in front of her eyes, last nights actions catching up with her.

Oh, God, what was she doing?

She was lying to him again, that was what she was doing.

Last night had been perfect and she had to ruin it by lying to him.

A sob tore through her and she quickly ran up the stairs to the first floor, not wanting to wake anyone. The kitchen was empty as she lowered herself into one of the chairs, dropping her head onto the table. There was no way she could go about any kind of relationship with him without him or his friends getting suspicious. She would have to leave whenever she got a phone call, no questions asked, and sometimes be gone for days on end.

Her cell phone buzzed in her pocket, letting her know that Jim had pulled up to the front of the house. Taking a deep breath, she squared her shoulders before lifting her head and standing. And finding herself looking directly at Vince. Quickly she wiped the tears from her face and cleared her throat.

"Morning, V."

He looked at her for a second, his eyes narrowed. "You alright, kid?"

Pasting a smile on her face, she nodded. "Yeah." She hated the way her voice cracked, but ignored it. "I have to get going to work. A friend of mine is waiting for me out front."

Lonnie gave him another smile and started toward the living room, stopping when he grabbed her arm. "You sure you're okay?"

"Mm-hmm. When you see him, could you just tell Leon to gimme a call?"

Vince, the big teddy bear that he was, looked as though he was about to argue with her, but instead just nodded his head. "He have your number?" She nodded. "Good. Then I guess I'll see you later."

Thankful that he just let it drop, she moved through the living room, stopping at the front door. "Hey, V," she called quietly, not wanting to wake the rest of the house. He poked his head through the threshold to the dining room. "Please don't-"

"I didn't see nothing, baby girl."

"Thanks." Then she was out of the house and running down to Jim's car, wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

She got in and slammed the door, belatedly noticing that this was not the car that Jim had picked her up in before. Her partner was in the seat next to her, so that was reassuring. They sat in silence while he turned the car around towards her room on campus.

It was not until he pulled the car to a stop in front of her building that Jim finally spoke. "I'm sorry for the way I acted on the phone last night."

She gave a noncommittal nod, her hand going to the door handle. "Yeah. I'll be in the office in about an hour. You going straight there?"

Her partner stared. "Are you even going to acknowledge my apology? Or are you just going to act like an asshole the whole day?"

Lonnie threw her door open and slammed it shut after she stepped out of the rental. God, she didn't need his shit. She heard him slam out of the car as she started up the steps. "You know what, Jim? I have enough shit on my plate right now without you adding your two cents in all the time."

"Lonnie!"

She ignored him as she slid her card through the door and entered the building, storming through the lobby. He had no idea what the hell she was going through. His girlfriend knew what he did and accepted it. Could she tell Leon? No. So what happened now? The next time she went out on the job and something happened, what would he even be told? Or would he simply be left to assume that she just disappeared?

Anger made her move quicker. While showering and dressing, her movements were sharp and angry, her hands shaking violently. After brushing her hair out, she pulled it into a tight bun and gelled back any stray hairs. Her purple streaks were gone now, having been washed out in the past few days.

She moved around her room, dropping her mobile in her pocket of her black slacks, along with her wallet. A pair of jeans and a t-shirt were thrown in a duffle bag that she would throw in the back of her car. Slipping on a pair of black shoes and a jacket, she grabbed everything she needed and moved out of her room and back down to the lobby.

It took her a record twenty minutes to get from her room to HQ and up to her office. The second her door was shut tight she booted up her computer and sat down at her desk, slipping out of her shoes and propping her feet up on the corner. She would spend a little while typing up a report or two and then she would see what the team was doing for lunch.

The knock on her door made her jump in her seat and she barely had time to drop her feet beneath her desk before her door was pushed open and her boss walked in. Captain Myles was a man of about fifty with salt and pepper hair and tired eyes. In his hands, he carried two cups of coffee, one of which he placed on the desk in front of her as he sat in the seat across from her.

"You've had a busy weekend." His voice was quiet, belying the flash in his eyes. From under his arm, he dropped a manila folder in front of her.

"What is this?"

"Why don't you take a look and tell me. That way maybe I can come up with a good enough excuse to tell _my_ superiors."

With one eyebrow raised, she opened the envelope with one hand and sipped her coffee with the other. A picture of herself holding a .9mm to Kenny Linder's chest sat face up in the folder. Sipping calmly at the coffee she flipped through the pictures. A play by play of the previous evening stared at her.

Keeping her false expressionless while silently going into panic mode, she looked at her boss. "You keeping tabs on me now?"

"Actually, no."

Finishing the last drop of her drink, she crushed the cup and sent it flying into the trash can clear across the room. Beat that Leon. "So then what's this?"

Anther folder was dropped on top of the original. "Kenny Linder, it appears, is our latest target."

"Come again?"

Myles indicated the folder with his coffee cup. "Take a look."

The first picture was of Kenny Linder, under that a paper full of background information. Following Linder was a picture of an old man in a judge's gown and a paper full of information. The last bit was of Dominic Toretto.

"It seems your pal Toretto has a little history with Linder. Without going into specifics, Linder's not too happy with either man."

"Am I going to be made aware of why?"

He closed the top folder and pulled it into his lap. "Outside of that information that you just read on those papers, you do not need to know anything else." She opened her mouth to question him, but he silenced her. "After some consideration, in light of these pictures, your role in this operation has changed."

"What?"

"It wouldn't be so wise to put you in the role that we originally had planned for you." She did not even want to know what either of her roles were. "After some careful review, the Company feels you're ready to take a more active role."

"And what exactly does that mean?"

"Nothing much different, actually. You get to be Toretto's shadow."

"I'm going to do what?"

Mr. Myles took the next half hour to outline the Company's course of action and her role in the whole scheme of things. When he was done, he leaned back in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. "So, you're finally getting that promotion to field agent that you've been looking for."

Lonnie looked up at her boss. "Sir, if this bit about Officer O'Connor is true, don't you think it would be a little risky to place an agent on the inside? I mean, I know these people, two of which are family, wouldn't it just be easier to just explain the situation and ask for cooperation?"

"Are you telling me you don't want this assignment, Jackson?"

She sat up straight in her seat. "No, sir. I completely agree that if we are going to send anyone in, it should be me. I was just voicing a question."

"Well, don't."

"Roger that, sir."

He stood up to leave, but stopped at the door. "I heard agent Bayard was being transferred to our division."

"Yes, sir. I got a call from her last night. I thought I'd talk to you about her lodging."

"And?"

She stood and met him at the door. "My dorm is a double and I have no roommate."

"Done."

"Thank you, sir."

Mr. Myles stepped out of her office and started down the hall, stopping halfway to his own office before turning to look back at her. "You have a car, Jax?"

"Yes, sir."

He nodded. "Then you might want to hurry up and get to LAX. Bayard's plane touches down this morning and I hear traffic can be a bitch." Lonnie stared at him, her brow furrowed as she worked to process what he had just said. Lena was going to be in LA in-

She rushed back into her office, slipped on the shoes that she had nearly walked out without and grabbed her bag and cell phone. "Captain, do you have her flight information?" He held up a slip of paper and she reached out to grab it. "Thank you."

Myles pulled the paper out of her grasp. "What excuse do I give my superiors for those pictures, Jax?"

"It's a previous relationship, sir."

"That's good. Now get going."

It didn't take her too long after she got the paper in her hand to make her way down to the parking garage under the building. Then she was on her way, gunning the engine as she raced down the highway.

She was pulling into the parking structure when her cell phone vibrated against her hip, startling her despite the loud music pouring out of the speakers. Moving quickly, she pulled into a parking spot and cut the engine, grabbing her phone from the clip on her pants. The number was local, one she did not recognize. Stepping out of the car, she flipped the phone open.

"Jackson."

"Three lousy dollars? That's all I rate to you?"

Lonnie laughed, shaking her head as she fingered the lock on her remote and made her way to the terminal. As she passed through the revolving doors, she glanced down at her watch. Ten o'clock already? "Well, I told you you needed practice, baby."

Leon was laughing on the other end, his voice almost completely drowned out by the sound of heavy machinery in the background. "That's harsh."

"Well with just a little work, sweet cakes, I'm sure we can have you up to five bucks in no time."

He let out a raspy chuckle, his gravelly voice causing a stir in her system. "So, where you at, Lon?"

"I'm at the airport, Chief?"

"Why?"

She thought for a second, trying to figure out the best way to describe her friend without giving too much away. "A friend and colleague of mine is moving down her from the Seattle division of our company. I'm being sent as an envoy to make sure she gets in and settled."

"Envoy? Shit, you know it turns me on when you use big words."

"You just wait," she told him playfully, glancing up at the flight display to see that Lena's plane was just landing. "Wait until we play scrabble… I won't hold nothing back."

On the other end, Leon let out a chuckle that he covered with a cough before speaking to someone in the background. "Yeah. I know… No, I'm gonna ask her. Gees. Hey, Lonnie?" When she did not answer right away, he tried again. "Lonnie, baby, you there?"

"Yeah, Chief. What's up?"

"You free for lunch?"

"Well, I'm at the airport right now, Chief. Then Lena and I are gonna go get her settled down in our room." She thought for a second. If Toretto and his team was her assignment, then she did not need to go back to the office for the rest of the day. "Actually, if you don't mind extra company, Lena and I could meet you."

"How long do you think it'll take to get back into the city?"

"Maybe around eleven thirty, twelve."

"We're closing up around quarter to twelve for lunch. Why don't you two just head on over to the café?" When she agreed to go he gave her directions, saying that he had to get back to work.

"Hey, Chief," she said before he could hang up. "Fair warning."

"What's that?"

"I worked this morning."

"So?"

"Just, you know, don't be surprised when you see me."

"Nothing about you surprises me, baby." He chuckled on the other end. "I'll see you in a bit."

So nothing surprised him, huh? Well, when he saw her in a few hours, he definitely would not be saying that.

A flood of people moved through the terminal gates, crowding and jostling each other. Luckily, she could pick her best friend out of a crowd of, well an airport full of people. Lena came up to everyone else's shoulder and had no problem pushing anyone out of her way. Within a minute of walking through the gate, she stood next to Lonnie in a pair of light gray slacks and a peach button up tank top.

Lonnie leaned down to hug her friend and ask about her luggage. "I have two waiting for me at the carousel." She was told as they muscled their way through the hordes of people. The carousel area was less packed with travelers, most people having already grabbed their bags and moved on.

Lena's two bags in hand, they left the building and swarm of people behind them and headed toward her car. "We got an invitation to lunch," she told her friend as they dropped the bags and her jacket in the trunk.

"Yeah? From who?"

"Leon and his friends."

"Cool." The two settled in their seats and Lonnie got them out on the road, paying the parking toll. "So tell me more about our latest."

Reaching blindly into the back seat, she pulled out the case file Myles had given her to study and handed it over. "I'm going to need a lot of help on this one."

"Just give it to me straight."

"Subject's name is Dominic Toretto. He's a friend of Leon."

"Are we taking him out?"

She shook her head, speeding up as they jumped onto the highway. "No. We're keeping him alive."

"Okay. Break it down for me."

-----

The café got really quiet, that was the first thing he noticed as he sat with Dom in the backroom behind the fence. When they walked in earlier, before Dom had pulled him in to talk about Lonnie, the team had been in a heated discussion about what to do with Brian's old Eclipse. Vince had suggested that they should work on it during their down time in order to get Jesse something to drive. Leon wanted to agree with him, and he saw that Jesse did as well, but he knew that his friend was not going to need a car soon. With Lonnie around, the Jetta would be back by the end of the month.

Letty and Brian had agreed that Jesse needed a new car, but suggest just buying him one. With the holiday season coming up and the last race of the season just two weeks away, the garage was about to be flooded with cars. Racers tended to crowd Toretto's when there was down time, wanting the best team in LA to work on their cars. With all the cars flooding in, they argued, there was not going to be enough spare time to work on rebuilding the burnt-to-crisps Eclipse. After that, the debate started.

But suddenly the café was quiet.

"Go see what that's about, huh?" Dom ordered, trying to make it sound like a request.

Yeah, as if.

He walked out of the office just in time to see two females head toward the refrigerated section, which explained the sudden change of topic. It was one thing for the team to argue in private and a completely different thing all together to do it with an audience. For one thing, it didn't look good for their image.

Glancing down at his watch, he saw that it was a quarter past twelve. Lonnie would be there shortly, he hoped, seeing as she had not called to say she wasn't going to show. Thoughtfully, he glanced over the shelves of snack food at the two females.

They were obviously the complete opposite of each other. One was a little bit shorter than average height with chin length streaked blonde hair and next to no body fat. Her friend was tall; her hair pulled back to the base of her neck and her body was very well toned. Both were wearing suits, as if coming in on a lunch break, which wasn't that unusual.

Toretto's Café made good money on its lunch crowd, but usually it was on the people on break from various garages and shops. Low-income workers who knew the neighborhood and where it was safe to go. Not downtown LA business type _gringas _who looked as though they just stepped out of some magazine and were asking to get car jacked. Probably had some flashy Beemer parked outside.

Robbed, and shown what a "real man" is like.

"Hey Chief." The taller one turned and looked him straight in the eye, her pale eyes smiling. Jesus! Lonnie sure looked good dressed for work.

She came around the shelves, a bottle of water held loosely in one hand, and went up on her toes to kiss him lightly on the lips. Okay, so she was right. He was very surprised. Actually, so surprised he barely reacted when she kissed him.

"This is Lena. She works with me," she told him, moving away. "Lena, this is Leon. The guy I told you about."

The woman next to Lonnie smiled. Up close, he was able to see that her hair was not a dark blonde, but rather a light brown and that her skin was the color of honey. "Nice to meet you, Lena. I'm afraid you've probably heard more about me than I have about you."

"That's quite alright."

Lonnie grabbed her friend's hand and steered her around to the counter where Mia had set sandwiches down in front of two empty seats. While they made quick introductions, Leon went back and spoke with Dom.

"Lonnie's here. You wanna ask her about helping out?"

His friend nodded and closed the book that he'd been writing in. "Yeah."

"And the big guy is Dominic." As Lena's eyes moved over him, Lonnie added, "He's Letty's boy."

"Shit. He is big, ain't he?"

"Dom," Lonnie said, swallowing a bite of her sandwich. "This is Lena."

"Pleasure."

Leon moved to stand behind his girl, her head coming up to his shoulder from where she sat on the stool. "So what are you doing later today?" he asked, leaning over to touch his lips to her bare shoulder.

"How much later?"

"Three o'clock. Four."

"Don't know yet," she told him, taking a bite of her sandwich before offering it to him. "What you got in mind?"

Stealing a sip of her water, he shrugged. "Just wondering. How'd you feel about getting back under the hood of a car?"

"I'm very agreeable to the idea."

Lowering his voice, he leaned down to rest his chin on her shoulder. "You should change, though. Would not want to get any oil or grease on these fancy clothes you got there, sweet thing. Although," he whispered, turning his lips to her ear, "you dressed like this is kind of a turn on. Makes me wonder if you have any of that lacy stuff underneath."

He felt her lean back against him. "I promise to keep everything I'm wearing under this on when I change. That way you can se later on tonight." She turned her head, kissing him lightly on the lips once more.

"What about your girl?"

"What about her?" She took a bite of her sandwich, feeding him a bite afterwards.

"It's her first night out here, you just gonna leave her alone?"

"No. You're right." She leaned her head back against his shoulder. "I could spare a few hours this afternoon for the garage and maybe…"

With a quiet laugh, he wrapped his arms around her waist. "I just want to spend time with you, that's all. We'll figure something out."

Lonnie offered him a sip of her drink. "I don't know how much time I'll have to work this week."

"We'll figure something out," he repeated before joining the conversation with his friends. "Hey, Dom, Lonnie said she'd help out at the garage today, but she doesn't know about during the week."

"That's cool."

Quickly, he changed gears, focusing on the brunette. "So, Lena, where you from?"

"Hawaii." The girl shrugged her shoulders. "I was up in Seattle the last few months visiting family before I got transferred down here."

"How'd you and Lonnie meet?" Jesse asked.

The brunette glanced over at Lonnie quickly, a look so imperceptible that he was sure he would have missed had he not been standing right behind Lonnie. "I was Lonnie's liaison to the company the last few months before she was released."

"Why you?" V asked.

"Because I was in there while she was and two and a half years beforehand."

"For what?"

"Armed robbery."

"So why do they take you guys straight out of prison?"

"Who better to work security than those who know the ways around it?" Lena shrugged her shoulders. "We're good at what we did and we've only gotten better."

Leon's grip tightened around Lonnie's waist and he had to force himself to relax. She looked at him over her shoulder, one eyebrow raised. "Have you gotten any better?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Everyone in the café straightened and she let out a sigh of exasperation. "But I _thought_ we had gotten over this already." When no one said anything, she stood from the stool, pushing past himself and her brother. Lena followed behind, dropping money on the counter and offering Mia an apologetic smile. At the doorway, Lonnie paused and glanced back at them over her shoulder. "But don't worry guys. Even if I did hear from the old man, he never had a taste for race imports. So you're safe."

Then they were gone.

Leon sat heavily on the stool that Lonnie had just vacated. "God dammit!" He couldn't really look down on any of his friends, because he himself had not spoken up in her defense or even shown a little support. "Well, Dom, we're short handed again."

"We'll figure something out."

This was getting to be ridiculous. He was constantly coming out of this feeling like an asshole. With a sigh, he pushed away from the counter and moved towards the front door, realizing that he hadn't heard the Mustang start up yet. She was still there.

Why?

They were sitting in her car, the windows down for ventilation, their heads bent low together. "I'm really trying here, Lena. I mean, this is the second time since I met them that someone brought up what I've done and they start acting like I'm over here scouting cars," he heard her say through the window, neither one looking his way. "And not once does he say anything. Like he doesn't even trust me."

"Well-"

"I know I've lied to him, but I mean, if he says he's willing to try again, why doesn't he?"

"Lonnie, I'm sure he's trying. But you got to remember he's got a conflict of interest. They've been his friends for three years now."

"And I have been around." She shook her head sadly. "My own brother certainly had no problem deciding between me and them."

"Jesus, Lonnie."

He watched her shake her head again and reach up, wiping something from her cheek. Oh God, she was crying. "No. It's cool. I'll be fine once we get on the road," she said, pushing her friend's hand away from her shoulder. Lonnie turned her head, reaching out blindly to fumble with the ignition. Then she glanced up and met his gaze.

He saw the exact second she realized that he'd heard part of her conversation.

She shook her head and jammed her key into the ignition, turning the engine over. He rushed over just as she shoved the shifter into reverse and stepped behind the rear bumper. The brake lights flared and her eyes met his in the rear view mirror, her bright blue gaze blurry through her tears. Her lips moved slightly, telling him to move and his response was a shake of the head. Her demand was repeated three more times before the car was torn out of gear and her emergency brake was pulled up.

Lonnie threw her door open and unfolded herself from the low set Mustang. "Dammit, Leon. Move!" Again, he shook his head; instead, he turned and leaned back against the trunk, crossing his arms across his chest. "I'm leaving. Move!"

"No."

Her face was red as she stormed over to him. "Why!"

He kept his voice low, trying to calm her. "Because I don't want you to drive away angry. Besides, you and I need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you right now."

"Well, too damn bad, sweetheart." He barely managed to move out of the path of her flying fist. Instead, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her against him. "I let you get a pot shot in once yesterday. I'm not about to let it happen again." Her shoes added three inches to her height and brought her just three inches short of looking him in the eyes but standing at six foot now definitely made her intimidating. Except for the tears. "I don't want you to leave here angry. You know how you are behind the wheel when you're angry."

"Well, I am angry, Leon. And guess what? I'm leaving."

"When did you become such a fucking pansy that you run away from a fight?" She fought against him, her body struggling to put distance between them. "Lena, would you mind turning the car off and giving us a few minutes? Tell Mia to get you a drink and it's on me."

Lonnie struggled harder. "Lena, don't you dare." The car stopped rumbling against his back. "You are such a trader."

"Let me know when you're ready to leave, Lon."

"Damn you!" Her eyes narrowed on him. "Why are you doing this?"

He moved as quickly as he could, flipping their position so that she was trapped between his body and the trunk of the Mustang, keeping himself safe between her legs to take away the threat of a knee to the groin. Then he had her hands trapped between them. "Because I'm very quickly getting tired of this bullshit. You have a problem? We fucking talk about it. You don't, I repeat _do not_ run away." Angry, he jerked her closer. "It's time you start acting like a grown up."

"Fuck. You. Leon."

"Been there. Done that."

"You want to be a grown up? How about you? Huh? You don't fucking trust me! You-"

"I trust you."

"Bullshit!" She looked around, seeming to realize that people could hear them, and lowered her voice. "Bullshit! Every time someone brings up my past you tense up and act like I'm going to jump ship the second someone offers me the money."

"Goddammit! I do trust you."

"Then why can't you say something to them? Why did you have to ask if I've gotten better and then get upset when I tell the truth?" Her voice softened gradually and the tears returned to her eyes. "You're hurting me, Leon."

His gaze jerked down to where he held her wrists in a white-knuckled grip. Slowly he made his grip loosen until he dropped her hands all together. "I'm sorry." Since when did he start hurting women?

Her hands went to the front of his t-shirt, gripping it at the bottom to hold him to her when he started to move away. "It's okay." She looked up at him. "Do you trust me enough to know, absolutely _know_ that I'm done with all that? That I work for a company that deals in security and fixing problems that I _used_ to make?"

"Lonnie-"

"No!" Her hands moved to the collar of his shirt and jerked him closer until he was looking her in the eye. "No qualifiers. Either you trust me and know in your heart that I'm telling the truth," she poked him hard in the chest, "or you don't."

Leon lifted a hand to massage her neck as he lowered his head. "I believe you." And he did, there were times in the past when he had been able to tell that she was lying to him, but he had willingly overlooked it because he was happy. But he knew she wasn't lying now. She was done boosting cars.

"Then show me, you bastard. Stick up for me when I need you." She wanted him to kiss her, he could see it in her eyes.

But he didn't. Instead, he pulled her to him, placed a soft kiss against her forehead, and hugged her. A sob shook her and then she was pulling him closer, crying against his shoulder.

"I'm so sorry. I know I put you through so much three years ago. I have no right to ask you to pick up where we left off," she cried. He hugged her tighter against him. Slowly, she began to calm herself and push away from him. "God I'm sorry. I didn't mean to blubber all over you."

He smiled, reaching out to wipe her tears. "It's okay. It's nice of you to finally show me some emotion other than anger." He leaned forwards to place a soft kiss on her lips. "I've never seen you cry."

"Yeah? Well take a picture, because it's not bound to happen again." He doubted that. He bet that once she saw the ring he had bought for her years ago, she would cry. "I should get going."

"But we haven't talked."

"We cleared up that you trust me. What else is there?"

"Your word."

"About what?"

"You'll never leave me again."

Lonnie's eyes narrowed on his before a small smile lit her face. "I'll be around for as long as you want."

Leon sighed at the answer, leaning his forehead against hers. He was about to take that fall again and he wasn't really sure it was that smart. "You know I love you, right?"

"Leon-"

"Don't worry about the answer. I can wait until you're ready."

"Chief-" she seemed about to say something, but stopped herself when he looked her in the eye.

"Will you come back and help out at the garage?"

"I think maybe it would be best if we took a step back." Wait, didn't she just say that she wanted to pick up where they left off? "I just think," she amended quickly, her eyes wide, "that maybe we should give your friends some time to after all this to get used to the fact that I might be coming around for a while. And it has nothing to do with their cars."

"Lonnie-"

"_They_ don't trust me, Leon. You know they don't. We'll just give them time."

"So what am I supposed to do? I get punished because they don't trust you? I can't see you?"

She lifted herself up so that she was sitting completely on the trunk of her car and then pulled him closer to stand between her long slender legs, heat to heat. "No, that's not how it works. I'm not sure how much time I will have during the week, but there's always the phone. We can talk for a while, make plans for the weekend."

"And that's it? A phone call once a day? For how long?" He pushed away from her, not liking the idea very much. Got this was ridiculous. He had lost her for three years and finally got her back, now he had to sit back and wait for his team to be willing to accept her? "That's the most ridiculous idea I've ever heard."

"Fucking Christ, Leon," she shouted, jumping off the trunk. "I'm trying to find a way to do this that's fucking easy for you." Lonnie stood in front of him, hands on her hips. "They're your team, Chief. I'm not going to get in the way of that." He opened his mouth, but she cut him off. "And don't tell me they have nothing to do with you and me, baby, because you know as much as I do that they do. They're your family, Leon. I'm willing to wait."

"So, that's it, huh? Even after last night, you're just going to back off? Just like that?" He knew he was being unreasonable, but the thought of losing her again scared him worse than anything in the world. And that pissed him off.

"It's not like it's easy for me to do this. Do you think I want to do this?" She gave him an incredulous look. "You know me, Leon. I'm selfish. But I'm doing this for you. It's not going to last forever. Just a week, maybe two."

"I think this is just the excuse you were looking for," he accused irrationally. Even as he spoke, he knew he should just shut his mouth and deal with it. Making her angry would only make it worse. "You're scared, so you want to run. It has nothing to do with the team. Just the same way you go arrested."

"What?"

"You were happy and that scared you. So you ran. Boosting cars made you miserable, so that's where you went."

She gasped in shock. "That's bullshit and you know it."

"Do I?" Yes, he did.

Lonnie shook her head, but kept calm. "I'm going to go now, because it's stupid to argue about this. Please move back so that I can go." Defeated but refusing to admit it, he moved back to the café. "Gimme a call when you're ready to be reasonable."

That parting shot was just what he needed to resume his anger. "How about you give me a call when you're ready to be fucking happy." She didn't answer, he didn't expect her to. Instead, he walked back to the café and nodded to Lonnie's friend. "She's ready to go," he told her gruffly.

The brunette nodded, smiling to everyone. "It was nice meeting all of you."

"You too, Lena," Mia said from behind the counter. "You're welcome back whenever Lonnie comes along." Leon waited until the girl was gone before informing the team that Lonnie wouldn't be coming around for a while. "What? Why?"

"She wanted to give you guys some time to get used to her and to trust that she wasn't scoping out the cars." He shrugged his shoulders. "We didn't exactly agree and well… We're not too happy with each other today."

Jesse sat down heavily on a stool. "So she's not coming back?"

"Why the fuck would you care?" he snapped at his best friend. "You were so willing to throw her out on her ass Saturday night."

"She's still my sister, Leon."

"They why can't you trust her!" This was a conversation that should have been held in private but apparently he no longer had a filter.

"She lied to us."

"She said she was done."

"But yet she was asking about the Jetta."

"It's still yours!" He hadn't even realized he said it until the entire team was staring at him.

"What does that mean, Leon?" Dom asked, his deep baritone voice rumbling threateningly.

Leon sighed, glancing apologetically at his best friend. "In all the bullshit that went down, the Trans never actually got the title from Jesse. Technically, the car still belongs to Jess."

"Is that true, Jess?"

The kid nodded reluctantly. "That's why the Trans are so hot to sell it off."

"Jesus." Dom ran a hand over his head, clearly frustrated. "And Lonnie? Could she get it back?"

"If she's only gotten better, chances are as soon as she gets and address, it's gone."

"There's no way she'd be able to get into the compound," Brian argued. "We got in by sheer luck."

Jesse shook his head stubbornly. "She'll get it done. The Trans aren't even half as bad as some of the people she's boosted from."

Dominic sat down next to Letty, now the entire team took up the counter. "Then let's use her. Let's get the car."

Leon's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "What? No!"

"Why not?"

"My God. You guys don't trust her as it is. How you gonna feel when you seen what she can do?"

"You trust her, don't you?"

"Dom, I've known her for years." He looked around the team for help. "Christ! Jesse doesn't even trust her."

"I just don't want her to leave again, Le," his best friend told him glumly, peeling at the polish on his nails.

"Well this is the best way for that to happen. Breaking parole."

Vince cleared his throat. "Would she do it?"

"Yes."

Dom nodded. "Then it's settled."

"What!"

"We'll wait to get to know her first, just like any new member of the team."

"You're letting her on the team?"

"She's gonna be around for a while. As long as she proves herself and stays loyal to the team she's golden."

Letty frowned as she sat opposite Leon. "I thought we were done with illegal stuff, Dom."

Her fiancé leaned over to kiss her cheek. "We're just gonna repossess a car, baby. Nothing illegal about it."

This idea required him to grovel, didn't it?

-----

It was Friday night and still he had yet to hear from Leon. Myles had not been too happy when she requested they put surveillance on the team until the weekend, but she explained to him that she knew the way they worked and she would be in by Saturday night. As mad as he had been, Leon would not be able to last much longer without getting the chance to take a few more shots at her.

She had received a phone call about forty-five minutes ago from Jim, telling both Lena and herself to be ready in an hour to go out. They were to dress for races, she was informed.

Races. Holy crap. She hadn't been to a race in such a long time.

But she quickly fell back into the whole process of going. She wore a pair of low-riding black jeans and an aqua halter that wrapped around her upper body and tied in the back, leaving the skin from her rib cage to her hipbone exposed. She then slipped on a pair of knee high platform boots, over which she pulled her jeans. Then she helped Lena get ready.

They were ready five minutes early and met Jim downstairs at the front door. It didn't take long for them to arrive at the warehouse district of inner city LA or for Jim to drop his bomb:

"Toretto and his team should be here."

"What?" she asked, pausing as she got out of the Firebird.

"They wanted you guys to step it up."

"I told them I had it covered. You can't push these guys."

"Well, we're about to."

She looked at her partner skeptically. "How?"

"You two get out of the car."

Lena leaned forwards from the back seat. "What about you?"

"Just get out!"

"Gees, Sans. Do you see that crowd out there?" A look from him had her friend closing her mouth. "Come on, Lonnie." The two of them stepped out of the car, barely having enough time to close the passenger door before Jim was burning rubber away from the rest of the crowd. "What a jerk. You know anyone around here?"

Lonnie shook her head, trying to figure a way to spin this. "No. If Toretto doesn't show-"

A whoop went as the crowd parted down the center to allow five cars to drive through in a V formation. Dominic Toretto's red Mazda RX-7 led the way and Lonnie wondered briefly, why a driver as good as he was reputed to bee was not on the track. Letty followed on his right in her 240SX and Vince to his left in his Maxima. Brian brought up the right flank in a Supra and Leon the left in his prized Skyline. They should all be on the track.

Not some low budget street race with amateurs.

"I guess they showed."

"Yeah," she answered, watching as they all stood from their respective vehicles. "If anything goes down, I want you to stick close to either my brother or Mia, aight?"

"You think they're gonna come over?"

A grim look set on her face, Lonnie looked at her friend. "I'm sure of it, in fact. I bet Sans made it so they'd have no choice." She made a motion with her head to draw her friend's attention to a group of guys on the other side of the clearing, making their way over. "Kick two chicks to the curb and leave them to the wolves."

"Trouble?"

"Most definitely."

"You ladies okay?" the one that seemed to be the leader asked, his gaze racking over them.

"Yeah. Fine," Lena said shortly.

"I saw that guy just leave you here." He moved in closer. "That's just wrong." Four other men moved over to them, each as big as a linebacker and smelling of alcohol. "You two can hang with us. We'll get you home safe."

She doubted that one.

Lonnie couldn't help the involuntary step backward and glance over at her friend to try to reassure her that all would be okay. "No. It's cool. A friend rides with one of the teams, we'll just hook up with them." She motioned for Lena to move around her, knowing the other girl was uncomfortable. "Thanks though." She started to follow her friend.

The ringleader reached out, grabbing her arm. "Wait. No. Come on, we got beer."

She took a breath to stop her first reaction, which was to break every finger on the scumbag's hand; instead, she forced herself to smile nervously. "No, that's okay." The guy was three times her size, so when he started to pull her towards their cars, she didn't have to try too hard to look like she was struggling against him. "No. Seriously, we're meeting friends."

"Well, just sit and have a beer till the races start."

"Not really interested. Thanks." She planted her feet, or tried to at least. The guy just bulldozed right over her. Lonnie looked over at Lena to see her friend watching with panicked eyes. A nod of her head sent the brunette running. "I'm supposed to meeting them. They'll worry when I don't show." She tried one more time to release herself. "Besides, I'm not thirsty."

"Come o-"

"I think the girl said that she didn't want to go," a deep voice said from behind and she dug her heels in again, looking to see Dom standing with the team behind him. "That means you should let her go."

"The girl is looking to party, Toretto, look at her. Back off."

She turned to face Leon, her eyes wide. "Jim kicked us out of the car and took my jacket with him."

"Yeah, well, your friend Jim sounds like an asshole," Dom told her gruffly. "Come on, Lonnie, we're about to start."

The guy's grip tightened. "You know this chick, Toretto?"

"She's a member of my team."

Her wrist was released as if it burned him. "I'm sorry man. No disrespect."

"It's quite all right." He turned his head. "Leon take your girl and get her a coat or something. Then take your spot on the street."

"Yo." Leon turned and walked away from the group, apparently expecting her to follow on her own. They reached his car and he popped open the trunk, rooting around until he found something and tossed it at her. "Get in the car."

"I have to get back to Lena."

"She's riding with V and Jess," he told her walking over to the driver's door. "Now get in the goddamn car." Okay, so apparently he was still upset with her. Not that he had much reason, but she had expected it.

"No need to be so rude," she grumbled, slipping the button-down shirt on before sliding into the seat. He barely waited for her to close the door and then he was rocketing through the crowd.

"What the fuck were you thinking wearing something like that?"

She glanced at him before turning to look out the window. "I ain't talking to you until you get rid of the attitude." He didn't calm down throughout the whole twenty minutes it took them to get to the strip.

They sat in his car, blocking a side street, while he played with a police scanner. She sat quietly for a few more minutes before giving up on him and throwing the door open and climbing out of the car. Obviously neither of them was willing enough to act like an adult and carry out a conversation. That was fine.

Tying the tails of Leon's shirt together at her waist, she started for where the crowd was starting to reform. "Lonnie." Leon had thrown his door open and was now leaning on the hood of his car, watching her. "Come back." She glanced at him over her shoulder. "Please."

Reluctantly she turned and moved back to the car, sliding back into the passenger seat. Static squawked from the scanner, filling the car with noise. "Are you ready to talk to me, now?" she asked in a calm, quiet voice.

"What were you thinking dressing like that?" he asked through clenched teeth. He didn't shout, which was definitely a point in his favor.

"We weren't even coming here to begin with," she lied, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. "Then after we got in the car, Jim changed the plans from the club to races."

"And?"

"When we got here he got a phone call, kicked us out of the car, and drove off without an explanation." At least the last few parts of the story were true. "I didn't dress like this to piss you off, Chief. I've dressed in less and pulled that off."

"So you're friend just kicked you out and left?"

"Yes."

"And this is that guy Jim, right?" She waited until he informed whoever was in charge of the races that there was a hostage situation in progress in north LA and the races got started before she nodded. "You know, I'm starting to not like this guy more and more."

"You and me both."

"We're having a couple of people over after the races. You wanna come over?"

"I don't know. Can we be in the same area for longer than ten minutes without one of us jumping down the other's throat?"

"Yeah."

"Well, then I guess I don't really have much of a choice, seeing as you're my ride," she shrugged her shoulders negligently. "I just gotta worry abut getting Lena a ride. I told her to stick next to Jess or Mia."

"Then she's fine," he told her, turning up the volume to effectively end the conversation. "They won't leave her." They sat in silence as the radio squawked in the air between them. When, after two minutes, nothing was reported about racing he spoke again: "The team wants you around more often."

"Really?"

"After you left on Monday, we all got to talking and I explained what was going on with you." Gees, the way he said it made it sound like she had been going through some kind of mental breakdown. "They wanted to apologize, but you haven't been around."

"It was your choice that I wasn't. I told you, you could call."

"Yeah." Suddenly a rapid-fire report went through the radio. "Shit." Leon reached for his two-way, leaning out his window at the same time. "We got cops! Cops!"

That one word was repeated numerous times as everyone dove into cars and burnt rubber off the streets.

"Buckle up, baby, we got a scramble that's going to take some time to get through."


End file.
